Melbourne halfback Jahrome Hughes will be ready to go in Friday night’s home preliminary final against the Cronulla Sharks.
That’s according to Storm coach Craig Bellamy who spoke with the media on Thursday morning, explaining Hughes needed to get through contact work in today’s training run to be declared fit to play—something he was very confident would happen.
“We’ll see how he gets through today, but from what he’s done the last couple of weeks he’ll be playing for sure,” Bellamy explained.
“He hasn’t done a whole heap of contact work, but it’s enough to be confident in what he needs to do, something would have to go drastically wrong today (for him not to play).”
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While admitting his star number seven has had a far from ideal preparation following surgery on a fractured forearm, the Storm boss pointed to Hughes’ big game experience as a huge asset going into the penultimate weekend of the 2025 NRL season.
“He won the Dally M last year, he’s played in grand finals, so for him to come back in is a big boost for all the players and the club as well,” Bellamy said.
“Hopefully he’ll get through today, we’re pretty confident it will happen.”
‘It’s not pleasant telling them’
Barring any last-minute changes, the return of Hughes means the Storm’s week one finals hero Jonah Pezet will be the man to make way in Melbourne’s seventeen-man squad, something Bellamy explained is simply the harsh reality of life in the NRL.
“While it’s not pleasant telling them (that they’re not going to play in a final), it’s a lot nicer than trying to find someone to go into someone’s spot when injuries happen,” he said.
“It’s not just Jonah either, a couple of other blokes have done a great job for us throughout the year, and they’re going to miss out as well.
“It isn’t fair sometimes, but that’s just the way it is.”