SEASON 1975 - it was a year in which teenaged league fan Craig Bellamy watched the Sydney Roosters string together a remarkable 19 wins in a row and which the Oberon Tigers club he was part of celebrated grand final glory.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Fast-forward 46 years and Bellamy is coach of a Melbourne Storm outfit which has equalled that remarkable winning streak.
It is another milestone moment the Portland native can add to his already impressive coaching resume, but just as the Tigers got to celebrate a 17-4 grand final win over Ex-Services in 1975, Bellamy's focus is on premiership glory with Storm.
"I can remember the Roosters' '75 side and what a great side they were, so for me it's fairly special," Bellamy said.
"But I don't do a whole heap, I just sit in the box and watch ... the most important thing is that we're playing our best footy in September."
Bellamy has been with Melbourne Storm since 2003 and in the years since has earned a reputation as one of the greatest coaches of all time.
He's been a four-time Dally M coach of the year and twice named the Rugby League International Federation coach of the year.
On Thursday night as Storm equalled the record of the 1975 Roosters with a 34-20 win over the Gold Coast Titans, it took Bellamy's overall record with Storm to 346 wins from 491 games.
But typically the man who once proudly wore Portland Colts and Oberon Tigers colours deflected praise from himself onto his playing group.
"I'm really proud of this group for being able to win 19 in a row," he said.
"That's hard to do in any era I would imagine, but certainly in the era we're in now.
"I look on it as I'm really proud of the playing group for what they've done. It hasn't been pretty at times without a doubt, that's how footy goes you know, there's up and there's downs like anything else in life.
"So to be able to win 19 games, especially in the situations, circumstances we're in, as I said, I'm really proud of this group."
Storm will create an outright 20-game winning streak record if they beat the Parramatta Eels next Saturday night.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
