Melbourne faces the prospect of legal action in the wake of Craig Bellamy and Brian Waldron's explosive post-match tirade on Friday night, with judiciary members considering suing the reigning premiers for defamation.
The Storm were fined an unprecedented $50,000 for what NRL chief David Gallop termed ''a cheap shot,'' that bought the integrity of the NRL's judicial process into question, and the club may face more hip-pocket pain in future.
Tribunal member Darrell Williams told News Limited that legal action is a distinct possibility, if an appropriate apology is not forthcoming to himself and fellow panel members Royce Ayliffe and Darren Britt.
"I'm there trying to do the right thing by the majority of players that are on the field to play the game of football,'' Williams said.
"And I'm not going to have my integrity ever questioned by someone like Craig Bellamy or Brian Waldron.
"I'm more than happy that David Gallop has come out and made a strong statement.
"And, you know, hopefully there'll be a good positive response to that from Melbourne and they show some atonement for their actions and we'll leave it at that.
"If they don't want to, then we'll have to address that and go down another road.''
Williams and Ayliffe have previously legal action against former NSW coach Phil Gould for defamation, which was eventually settled out of court.
Bellamy looked to clarify his position on Saturday, telling News Limited "At no stage did I intend to question the integrity of the judiciary or the match reviewers.''
But the Storm coach refused to back away from his stance on the charging of Cameron Smith.
"I just hope for that 50 grand, they answer that one question - why was Cameron Smith charged for that tackle when we see so many others as bad, if not worse?'' said Bellamy.
"I was probably a bit fired up last night and didn't explain myself as well as I should have.
"I'd kept my mouth shut all week because I had my team to coach. I was quite angry last night and perhaps a little frustrated.''
