NRL: Melbourne vow to play on

Craig Bellamy. Photo / Getty Images

The Storm have vowed to translate their devastation into defiance when the shamed NRL side return to action against the Warriors today.

Stripped of two premiership titles and condemned to inherit the 2010 wooden spoon after a systematic A$1.7 million ($2.2 million) rort of the NRL's salary cap over five years, Storm coach Craig Bellamy said the road to redemption started against the Warriors in Melbourne tonight.

The shell-shocked squad returned to training yesterday after what Bellamy described as "the worst week of our sporting lives".

Although the Storm are no longer playing for competition points - one of a range of penalties imposed by the NRL on Thursday - Bellamy said his team would continue to play as if their premiership defence was still viable.

"The senior players and coaching staff got together yesterday to talk about this shocking situation," Bellamy wrote in yesterday's Daily Telegraph.

"We vented. There was anger, frustration, disbelief. We let it all out. And we did it together. When we finished venting, we stopped and asked ourselves: 'Where to from here?'

"To a man, every player vowed to give their all for the purple of the Storm, for the jersey, for the football club, for each other and for our loyal supporters."

He fronted media for the first time yesterday, vowing to rebuild the shattered club and welcoming the NRL's continued investigation into the salary cap rorting which shocked Australian sport.

Reading a prepared statement and with his players standing behind him, Bellamy said he would not walk away from the club and urged fans not to either.

But he said he welcomed the NRL's continued probe into the club after it was revealed the Storm had been involved with long-term salary cap breaches involving clandestine player payments.

"The two things they can never take away are our dignity and our integrity," Bellamy said, before refusing to answer media questions.

"We know we will be investigated. We welcome that.

"I love this club. I love these players. These players love our club. This is a great club, a strong club, a very proud club. This is why we stand here today united. We aren't going anywhere. We ain't going to surrender."

But Storm captain Cameron Smith, one of the marquee players at the centre of the salary cap scandal, agreed with Bellamy, to a point.

"All we can do now is turn up [tonight], then after that sit down together and talk about what we do for the rest of the season," Smith said. "People can say play for your pride and all that but it's round seven, we have to turn up for another 20 weeks and give everything we can, really for nothing."

However, Smith said the players were desperate to stay together and rebuild the Storm's shattered image.

Although Storm chairman Dr Rob Moodie conceded the playing list would take "huge hits" to operate under the A$4.1m cap in 2011, Smith said they would try to make it happen without losing anyone.

"We are a team, not a group of individuals that turn up on a weekend and play football. I believe everyone will be willing to sacrifice a bit of money to stay together, and not let this be the end of what we've worked so hard for.

"We're not going to let this cripple us."

Smith also defended his team's achievements, despite the fact they are destined to be remembered as cheats.

"People have labelled us cheats and frauds but we won those premierships through hard work and playing for each other and that's what we'll continue to do."

The Storm will be subjected to continued scrutiny.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that documents detailing illegal payments to three Storm players had been given to News Ltd by the club's former acting chief executive, Matt Hanson.

These had been passed on to NRL auditors. The documents refer to payments due to have been made this year and are disguised as third-party sponsorship deals.

They come on top of revelations that nearly $1 million had gone to players that had been recorded as covering the hiring of a marquee by the Storm to entertain guests at home matches.

The club recorded in its accounts that it had paid the marquee's owners, Melbourne Olympic Park, up to $20,000 each time it used the marquee when, in fact, the contract between the club and the ground included use of the marquee.

Three sponsors have already withdrawn more than $2 million, meaning the Storm's owner, News Ltd, has been forced to prop up the club. It will now need to spend an estimated $30 million over five years to keep the club afloat.

- Agencies