Storm skipper Cam Smith says his team is setting itself for a strong start to Saturday night's grand final qualifier after watching opponents Brisbane aim up from the opening whistle as it eliminated the Dragons last weekend.
Striving for a fourth-straight appearance in the premiership decider, Melbourne has enjoyed a slightly more relaxed build-up to the encounter against its great rival after smashing Manly in a qualifying final and then having other results go its way.
But having amped up that preparation from late last week, with an 80-minute match simulation against the club's Under 20s team which is also chasing a grand final berth against the Broncos on Saturday, the Storm have made the opening stages 'a real focus'.
"We fell into that trap a couple of times really when we've had the week off where we've started a bit slow and we've had to claw our way back," Smith said after training at Storm headquarters in Carlton on Tuesday morning.
"Looking at the Broncos' match last week against St George, I think that's how they set themselves up for the win, they started strongly and really held onto their lead and ground out a good win."
"If we're any chance of winning this match we have to start strongly because (if) you give guys like the Broncos - (guys) like Darren Lockyer and Karmichael Hunt and (Justin) Hodges and (Israel) Folau, you (could) name the whole side - (if) you give them any head start they're pretty hard to peg back."
"So that's a real focus for us this week to start well and we're going to be working hard at it."
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy gave his players a big spray midway through the 90-minute session when a drill wasn't being carried out to his liking and Smith said it was warranted even though he also laughed it off as being typical of the boss who 'gets his angry head on and starts spitting a bit'.
"It was a good spray, we were a little bit off the pace there during training," he added.
"We started well with the ball but defensively we had a couple of lapses there."
"It's part of our game that we've been strong at all year and got us those tough wins is our defence so we need to keep working hard at it."