Storm’s Grant in Origin health increase

Melbourne manager Craig Bellamy has joked that Queensland has put aspiring hooker Harry Grant in cotton before next month kicks off.

The Storm coach said he was nearly recovered from a hamstring injury. Grant trained heavily on Wednesday, despite not being named against Brisbane on Thursday.

Grant and Storm and Queensland No. 6 Cameron Munster (foot) have missed the last two games. Bellamy admitted that Grant had regained the faster of the two games.

“He trained a lot today, I think the Queenslanders want to save him for Origin,” joked Bellamy from their base on the Sunshine Coast on Wednesday.

“It would have been a tough question to ask him to play (on Thursday) … even though he recovered faster than we thought at the beginning.

“It was a bad tear but he got through it all very well (captain’s run) and he’s pretty much ready to move on from there.”

Münster is rather worrying ahead of the series opening game at MCG on June 9th.

“It’s been going pretty slow,” said Bellamy of his foot injury.

“He’s not back in the on-going rehab group yet … sometimes these things take a bit of time and it comes to a point and comes out fine quickly.”

The Storm returns to Suncorp Stadium with an unparalleled rise in NRL form, winning the last eight games by at least 13 points.

Bellamy has yet to make a decision about his coaching future, but on Wednesday new CEO Justin Rodski told SEN Radio that he hopes to lock him up when the team finally returns to Melbourne.

“I am certainly very confident and hopeful that (our coach in 2022) will be Craig Bellamy,” said Rodski.

“These discussions continue. We are very optimistic and confident that he will be back at the top next year.

“It will of course be fantastic for our club. He will train his 500th game next year.”

“It’s an incredible achievement for anyone and will cement their place in the game as one of the greatest coaches of all time.”