Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy says rebuilding an NRL team stripped bare by the salary cap scandal has been the most energy-sapping period of his career.

Bellamy and his bleary-eyed players held aloft the premiership trophy on Monday in front of more than 3000 fans in Melbourne following Sunday night's 14-4 grand final win over the Bulldogs in Sydney.

And his pleasure was plain to see at completing a task many thought was beyond anyone - a first premiership triumph since the Storm had their 2007 and 2009 titles expunged for rorting the salary cap.

"The last three years have been very energy-sapping I must say, and it's taken us a lot of hard work to get where we're at," Bellamy said.

"There's been a lot of time put in, a real lot of effort, and it was particularly good to get that result last night.

"We lost half our squad, I lost all my assistant coaches. It was a lot of hard work.

"But the strong point about our club is the people we bring here usually jump on board with what we're doing."

Now Bellamy is facing yet another rebuild, with five Storm players involved in a victory built on superhuman defence leaving the club.

"We're losing five guys out of that side last night - and that's a third of your team," Bellamy said.

"We just seem to lose more players than any other club but we've got some good young guys in our system.

"We'll see what we've got pre-season, and go again."

Storm officials are keen to re-sign Bellamy, who has one more year remaining on his contract, to a new long-term deal.

But Bellamy wants to enjoy the victory before he enters into any talks.

"I'll be here next year, no doubt. I've got a contract, and I won't be breaking that contract," Bellamy said.

"I'm not thinking about (any new deal) at the moment. I just want to enjoy this with the players."

The Storm eventually showed off the premiership trophy to their home fans following a heavily delayed flight from Sydney and 90 minutes later than originally scheduled.

Melbourne five-eighth Gareth Widdop also had another reason to celebrate, with partner Carley giving birth to a baby girl, Harper, just hours after the grand final win.