Defending premiers the Melbourne Storm enter the NRL finals series as almost unbackable favourites to defend their title, but skipper Cameron Smith says his side faces a much tougher assignment this time around.
Speaking less than 24 hours after his side clinched its third-straight minor premiership with an emphatic win over the Rabbitohs, Smith insisted the Storm are far from assured of back-to-back titles.
"I think you've just got to look at the way the season's gone, it's been a lot tougher for us this year," Smith said.
"Each match has been a struggle for us and even though we've come away with some big wins, every team's on top of their game when they face us."
"Just looking at the teams in the top eight I think we've been beaten by a few of them this year already so … I think it's just whoever plays the best in the finals series is going to make it there (to the grand-final)."
While Smith believes all sides within the eight are capable of causing a stir on their day, he was quick to single out last season's grand-final foes the when asked to identify the greatest threat to Melbourne's title defence.
"Looking back on the season I think you'd have to put your money on Manly, they've played really well this year and they've got those players that you need to win those big games," Smith said.
"Along with Cronulla I guess they'd be the front runners but I'd put my money on Manly."
Asked to assess his side's own late-season form, Smith replied: "I think last night was a good step towards top gear, certainly we're not heading into the finals like we would have liked to, with a loss a couple of weeks ago against the Knights."
"We were heading in the right direction before that but I think last night was a really big step for us because it was the kind of football we want to be playing in the semi-finals."
"And I think if we can produce another effort like that this week we should be in good position to win it."
The Storm host the resurgent Warriors at Olympic Park on Sunday afternoon, and Smith is confident his side remains focused on the job at hand.
"We haven't really spoken about the back-to-back thing - we've spoken about being the dominant team of the (decade) - but there's no talk of (going) back-to-back or anything like that," he said.
"If you start worrying about lifting the trophy at the end of the day you'd find yourself quite easily out of the semi-finals."