Melbourne Storm full-back Billy Slater is expecting another tough encounter when his side faces the Canberra Raiders at Olympic Park on Sunday afternoon.
Slater was part of the victorious Queensland side that defeated New South Wales 16-10 in Origin III on Wednesday night, but will back up on Sunday as the Storm face a danger game against an underrated Raiders outfit.
Earlier in the season, Melbourne came from behind to defeat Canberra 23-16 in a hard-fought encounter in the nation's capital and Slater knows just how dangerous the Raiders can be.
"They are a side that throws everything at you and they start really well," Slater said.
"I remember they had us down 16-4 at half-time last time so we are expecting a tough game."
The Storm currently occupy fourth place on the NRL table with nine wins and five losses, but are only two points behind the league-leading Sea Eagles.
At the same stage last year, the Storm had dropped just two of their 14 matches, before going on to win the premiership over Manly.
And Slater feels that his team is capable of matching last year's feat, providing they can find some more consistency during their matches.
"We have had a lot more players in State of Origin this year and it is important for us to look after ourselves," Slater said.
"There is only 10 weeks to go until the semis and it is very important that we freshen up and we start playing some good football as a club because it has been off and on during this past two months."
Slater picked up a couple of fresh bruises during the Maroons' victory over the Blues, but said he should have no problems in joining eight of his team-mates in backing up from the Origin decider.
"We will do a lot of recovery and hopefully we will be ok in time," Slater said.