Storm boss Brian Waldron will call off legal action against the Dragons if coach Nathan Brown apologises in the next 48 hours.

With the NRL becoming the Melbourne Storm versus The World, a livid Waldron believes the game's powerbrokers will have blood on their hands after Brown escaped without censure for "inciting a riot".

Brown urged all NRL players to take matters into their own hands if they thought the Storm were adopting illegal tactics, and Waldron is convinced the NRL's failure to issue a fine is akin to condoning a call to arms.

Waldron and his Dragons counterpart, Peter Doust, will have a tense meeting at the NRL CEOs' conference on Tuesday, by which time Waldron will have decided whether to haul the Dragons to court.

He's convinced Brown's claims - that the club employs foul tactics and NRL officials are unable to adequately enforce the laws of the game - are defamatory.

Brown rang Storm coach Craig Bellamy on Thursday to explain why he blew up. He was angered by Storm fullback Billy Slater telling the judiciary that Dragons winger Jason Nightingale had headbutted him. Had it not been for Slater's claims, Brown would have stayed quiet.

"It was nothing to do with frustration and nothing to do with getting beaten," Brown said.

"Melbourne have beaten us plenty of times the last four or five years. It was nothing to do with the referee; we copped all that sweet. The thing that put me over the edge was when Billy came out and attacked Nightingale as being the one who provoked the trouble. That was the only thing that made me get edgy. That's why I did what I did."

Waldron told The Sun-Herald he would call an immediate ceasefire if Brown apologised by Tuesday.

"I see Brian Smith and a few coaches have supported 'Browny', but the whole thing is appalling," Waldron said. "We will take the next 48 hours to consider all our options. We are still waiting for some feedback from our lawyers about the best approach to take. If Nathan were to seek to apologise, that would be the end of it … It's his call now."

The day after Slater pointed the finger at Nightingale, Brown declared that the only thing Nightingale did wrong was not headbutt Slater hard enough. He also wished Jason Ryles had given Jeff Lima one on the chin, and said his only regret about the all-in brawl was that his players did not punch hard enough. The NRL said Brown escaped a fine because he did not question the impartiality of officials.

"I had a beer with 'Bellyache' [Bellamy] after the game and he said it himself, that it was unfortunate 'Rylesy' was sent off," Brown told Sydney radio station 2GB.

"My thing was never with Melbourne. They're only playing within the rules. There's no hard feelings between Nathan Brown and anyone down there. As far as I'm concerned, I defended my player and it's all done and dusted."

Brown also revealed the Dragons employ a cage fighter as a wrestling coach in an attempt to match the Storm's mastery of the ruck.

Storm versus The World, then?

"It probably just hits home to us that we're on our own in a lot of ways," Waldron said.