"Load of crap": Bellamy reacts to failure question

The record is obscene.

The Melbourne Storm are into their 11th Grand Final in 20 years after outclassing the Sharks 22-14 at AAMI Park.

And their record weas not even the most astonishing thing on the night.

Just 22 days after breaking his forearm, Jahrome Hughes defied belief and was back on the field and to play a starring role in the showdown.

That was despite his surgeon saying the regular recovery period was 12 weeks.

“Honestly I’m just happy to be out there,” he said after the siren. “I feel like I’ve been out for the whole year.

“Great to be back out with the boys, it’s a great feeling.”

Storm will be forced to wait until Sunday night to know who they face in next weekend’s Grand Final, with the Broncos and Panthers not scheduled to face-off until 4pm Sunday at Suncorp.

In a remarkable fixturing decision – presumably so they don’t clash with Saturday’s AFL Grand Final, the fixturing decisions for the NRL semi-finals grants the Storm a distinct advantage.

Craig Bellamy’s side will have an extra 48 hours to recover and rest compared to their opponents.

Asked about it, Bellamy said it’s clearly an advantage but that he had nothing to do with the decision.

“Yeah I think it is an advantage,” he said. “But with all due respect, we didn’t make that decision.

“A lot of people have been a bit critical as if we (said) ‘we want to play Friday, you have to put them on Sunday’.

“At the end of the day, the NRL made the decision. Not us.”

Given the advantage, Bellamy was asked for his thoughts that losing a Grand Final would render the Storm's season "a failure".

“I don’t think it’s making amends at all,” he said. “We ran into a really good side last year in the Grand Final in Penrith.

"They know how to win Grand Finals as we’ve seen the last four years. And I find it amazing that people say, you get to the Grand Final, but you’ve failed the year. Like, please.

“At the end of the day it’s hard to get into a Grand Final and it’s extra hard to win one.

“So we found a way today to get into the Grand Final and hopefully we can find a way to finish it off next week.

“But at the end of the day, there’s going to be two teams there and they’re going to be two good teams and let’s see what happens.

“But this thing about, you’ve had a failed season to get beat in the Grand Final, that’s a load of crap.

“It’s hard to get into a Grand Final and it is a fair bit harder winning one.”

While Storm will look to avenge last year’s Grand Final heartbreak, for the Sharks it was a tough loss to take.

“They are a quality opposition and we made it hard for ourselves at times,” Nicho Hynes said.

“Sometimes you are just not good enough, and it is not your night.

“We were leading the second half 2-0 at some stage, and then I dropped that ball, made a bit of a crucial error and then (gave away) a penalty and then Briton’s offload.

“We just compounded errors, and that cost us in the end.”