As many as 14 Sharks players have reportedly been urged to stand down for six months over an Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation, or risk a two-year ban.
"It's a pretty dire situation obviously," Bellamy told reporters in Melbourne.
"The NRL can't afford for a team to drop out of the competition and Cronulla are going to struggle if they're missing that many players."
Bellamy said the NRL would need the Sharks to play to ensure there were eight games a round to satisfy their television rights deal.
But he said if they lost so many players, even with special salary cap and recruiting dispensation, it's unlikely they could replace them.
"I don't know where they'd find the players," the Storm coach said.
"Most players are at clubs now and some players have gone over to the Super League.
"All clubs have got players now - they're not going to release too many.
"If that figure of 14 is right, that's a lot of players to find."
Bellamy said he had enormous empathy for Sharks coach Shane Flanagan.
He said his own experience when the Storm were severely penalised for salary cap breaches gave him an idea of what Flanagan must be feeling.
"I understand a bit of what he's going through or what he would be going through," Bellamy said.
"No result has come out yet but it's not looking so good.
"He's just got to make sure he grits his teeth and hangs in there and, whatever's decided, he's got to go with and make the best of it he can."
Bellamy said if Flanagan needed support, he was happy to talk to him.
He said it was terrible timing for the code.
"It's not great for Cronulla but it's certainly not great for the game either," he said.