Melbourne Storm's hell year ends in party after its win over Newcastle | Thebigtip

By Russell Gould @ Heraldsun

AFTER taking a moment to settle following yesterday's emotion-charged season swansong, Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy delivered his summary of a year from hell.

Storm had just despatched Newcastle 34-4 in a game that raced quickly to its likely conclusion with early points to the home team, stalled, then finished with a rush of tries.

On-field hugs followed the final whistle as did a video tribute to all of Storm's departing players, and reflecting on that caught Bellamy.

"You could see the quality of player, that stands out, but the thing you couldn't see up there was the quality of person. They have added so much to our club," Bellamy said before catching a breath.

"It's hard."

Harder times are to come when he farewells the departing players, including the four starters - Greg Inglis, Brett White, Ryan Hoffman and Jeff Lima - who took the field as one under instruction from skipper Cameron Smith.

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