The Storm’s potential pursuit of Broncos centre Gehamat Shibasaki will likely be raised at a recruitment meeting on Friday afternoon, with coach Craig Bellamy caught off-guard by the news before he jokingly asked whether the rep star could join them next week.
The Broncos have a fight on their hands to keep Shibasaki, who is set for a huge pay rise after making his Queensland and Australian debuts last year having also led the Broncos to premiership glory.
Having lost that grand final, the Storm are now weighing up whether to go after the attacking weapon, given they will lose Nick Meaney and Will Warbrick to rivals in 2027 and also missed out on signing Zac Lomax.
“I don’t actually know (about) that,” Bellamy said on Friday morning.
“We’re having a recruitment meeting today so I don’t know what’s going to come up there, but I haven’t heard that (the Shibasaki interest).
“Can he come next week or the week after?
“We’ve just got to concentrate on what our job is and make sure we get it done. But anyone would be welcome at this stage.”
The Storm have bigger fish to fry right now after they were flogged at training this week on the back of conceding 78 points in two games.
That included giving up 50 to the red-hot Panthers last week, with defence a huge focus for Bellamy after watching his side lose three games in a row.
“I just think a lack of effort at the moment (is hurting us),” he lamented.
“We’re relying on the bloke next to you instead of getting your job done. So there’s a real focus on not worrying about the bloke next to you and just getting your job done.
“I think (we’ll see a response) with our attitude, but if they don’t then we’ll get the same result that we’ve got the past three weeks.”
They get the perfect chance to bounce back in front of a sold-out crowd at home when they take on a Warriors side they’ve beaten 17 times in a row.
But history means little for Bellamy when you consider the players he’s lost and the form they’ve shown in recent weeks.
“We’re not worried about what happened five years ago or two years ago,” he said.
“We’ve got to get back to reality, and that’s what’s happening now. What’s happening now ain’t good so we need to improve that this week.
“In the two weeks before, we had leads that we should have hung on to, and then last week we were wiped off the map.
“You don’t like any of those situations happening, but they have so we’ve got to deal with it. It’s time for everyone to pull their finger out and get their job done.”
