Rugby League Coaching Manuals

By Stathi Paxinos, SMH - Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy yesterday declared his team did not fear the introduction of a second referee this season but rather embraced the prospect of quicker action around the ruck - if that was to be the case.

Bellamy remained unconvinced of that after his team had a session last week with two referees.

"I'll be looking forward to watching [Billy] Slater, [Cam] Smith, Cooper Cronk and Greg Inglis play, I'll tell you that," Bellamy said. "It's certainly not going to be any disadvantage to us."

The popular theory, as repeated by St George Illawarra coach Wayne Bennett this week, was that two referees would quicken the play-the-ball and help weed out one of the biggest blight's of the modern game - grappling. Bellamy said closer scrutiny of the ruck would not deter the Storm's defensive techniques. "It could lead to a little bit more dummy-half running [but] I'm not sure that we need that."