1990s In 1995, Bellamy coached the Canberra Raiders'
Presidents Cup team to a premiership win. In 1997 he became performance co-ordinator and assistant coach to
Wayne Bennett at the
Brisbane Broncos. That year they won the
1998 NRL Grand final.
2000s In 2002, when Broncos' head coach Wayne Bennett was on
State of Origin duty with the
Queensland Maroons, Bellamy gained NRL experience as a head coach. Forced to field a team full of young players due to the regular side's representative commitments, the 'Baby Broncos' upset the
Wests Tigers. The Tigers were a leading candidate to sign Bellamy as their coach for the 2003 season, although he ultimately joined Melbourne after
Mark Murray was sacked. In his third season as an NRL coach with the Storm, Bellamy started coaching the
Country Origin team with a loss in 2005. He coached New South Wales Country to victory and his club, Melbourne won the 2006
minor premiership and reached the
2006 National Rugby League grand final, but finished as runners-up to former mentor Bennett's Brisbane Broncos. In the post season Bellamy continued as Kangaroos assistant coach, now under
Ricky Stuart for the 2006 Tri Nations series. The following season Country lost but the Storm were minor premiers and reached the
2007 NRL grand final, in which they defeated the
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 34–8 to become premiers. They were however later stripped of the title by the NRL. In April, 2008, Bellamy signed a five-year contract extension through to 2013 with Melbourne despite interest from the
Brisbane Broncos. This signing meant that Bellamy would become the first 10-year coach in the Storm's history. After the
New South Wales Blues' poor showing in the
2007 State of Origin series, Bellamy was appointed as coach for the
2008 series. In his first series in charge of NSW, the Blues lost to
Mal Meninga's Maroons 2 – 1. The second and third series have also resulted in series losses, therefore posing serious questions on Bellamy's abilities to coach at representative level. During the finals campaign of the
2008 NRL season, Bellamy cost his club $50,000 after he was fined for disclosing scathing remarks and views on the NRL's decision to suspend his side's captain and goal-kicker,
Cameron Smith over a controversial "
grapple tackle" on Brisbane's
Sam Thaiday. Bellamy claimed that the administration was corrupt and that bookkeepers already knew that Smith would be denied the opportunity to play for the rest of the season and furthermore along with Melbourne's CEO questioned the NRL's integrity in their opting to side-line Smith and not others who were guilty of committing similar tackles. This drew threats of legal action from the members of the
NRL Judiciary. Bellamy coached Melbourne to their 3rd successive NRL grand final, but could not repeat the feats of the previous year as his side suffered an enormous 40–0 defeat to
Manly. 2009 marked the fourth consecutive year Melbourne played in the grand final under Bellamy. Melbourne also reached the top four on the NRL ladder for the fourth consecutive year. Craig Bellamy coached Melbourne in their grand final win in 2009 only to be stripped of the title due to breaching the salary cap. Bellamy was named coach of the year at the 2009
RLIF awards. Despite speculation he would move to the Warriors or
St George-Illawarra as coach, he signed a new three-year deal with Melbourne Storm in early 2013. He coached the team to victory in the
2013 World Club Challenge over
Leeds, earning the title of world champions. Late in the
2013 NRL season during an interview with
Paul Vautin for
Channel 9's
"The Footy show", it was revealed that Bellamy was an electrician by trade, though downplayed it by saying that he was "not a very good one." Also during 2013 Bellamy's book,
Home Truths: On Life, Leadership, Adversity, Success and Failure was published. On 16 May 2014 Bellamy reached a milestone, and created a new club record, of having coached the Melbourne Storm for 300 games. On 4 March 2016, Bellamy extended his stay as Melbourne Storm coach to the end of 2018.
2020s Bellamy had coached the Melbourne Storm to yet another NRL Premiership title in
2020, defeating the Penrith Panthers
26–20. This was despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had his players living away from home for five months straight. In the
2021 NRL season, Bellamy guided Melbourne to 19 consecutive wins throughout the regular season as the club claimed another minor premiership. The win streak equalled the Eastern Suburbs team of the 1970s. Melbourne would however suffer a shock loss against Penrith in the preliminary final. In the
2022 NRL season, Melbourne would qualify for the finals but were eliminated in the first week by Canberra. In the
2023 NRL season, Bellamy guided Melbourne to a third placed finish. The club would reach the preliminary final but were convincingly beaten by Penrith 38-4.
2024 On May 10, 2024, Bellamy re-signed as coach of Melbourne for the 2025 season. Bellamy guided Melbourne to the minor premiership at the conclusion of the 2024 regular season. The club would eventually reach the grand final but were defeated by Penrith 14-6
2025 On 5 June, Melbourne announced that Bellamy had re-signed with the club for the 2026 season. Bellamy guided Melbourne to a second placed finish in the
2025 NRL season and eventually the
2025 NRL Grand Final where they squandered a 22-12 half-time lead against Brisbane to lose the match 26-22.
2026 On 6 February 2026, the Storm announced that Bellamy had re-signed as coach until the end of the 2028 season. ==Coaching Career==