KEY POINTS:
Last weekend, a cashed-up punter put $250,000 on Melbourne to win next weekend's grand final - the single biggest bet in NRL history.
Of course, they haven't yet qualified for the Big Show but most people are convinced the Melbourne Storm are unstoppable in 2007.
They have the
best side, best record and best coach.
They also have the memory of what happened 12 months ago - being beaten 15-8 by Brisbane in last year's grand final - to fuel their quest for a first title since 1999.
"I don't think you ever get over it," Storm coach Craig Bellamy told reporters this week.
"But at the end of the day, what are we going to do? Feel sorry for ourselves, or think how unlucky were we or we just weren't good enough and then just go through the motions.
"No one is jumping off a bridge after last year. It certainly hurt, without a doubt. Anyone will tell you it hurts to lose a grand final but we just had to get on with it."
The way Melbourne got on with it has been simply breathtaking at times.
They won their first seven games of the season, haven't been beaten at home all year, lost only three games in total and go into today's match with the Eels on the back of easy wins against the Bulldogs (38-6), Titans (50-6) and Broncos (40-0).
They also welcome exciting five-eighth Greg Inglis back from injury and will be fresh after having last weekend off.
Melbourne's dominance has perhaps prompted other teams to prod away at Bellamy's side all season in the hope of unsettling them.
There was the 'grapple tackle' scandal of a couple of months ago, Brisbane's war of words and this week Eels chief executive Denis Fitzgerald livened up things with an extraordinary attack.
Fitzgerald labelled Melbourne's demand that the Telstra Dome's pitch be downsized to match the dimensions of their regular home ground at Olympic Park as "disgraceful, shameful and outrageous".
The Eels boss has never been a fan of Melbourne playing in the NRL and says the "jury is still out" on whether it can survive in AFL heartland.
He once compared promoting rugby league in Victoria to promoting beach volleyball in Iceland.
Melbourne counterpart Brian Waldron takes great delight in winding up Fitzgerald and presented him with a club supporters' pack before last month's match. Waldron said the request to the NRL over the pitch size was a ruse to boost interest.
"Denis fell for it hook, line and sinker," Waldron said. "Our owners will be happy with the free publicity."
A decent crowd of 30,000 is expected today for what will be the biggest club game to be played in Melbourne - they've never hosted a grand final qualifier.
The Eels have enough quality to test the Storm, particularly out wide with the likes of Jarryd Hayne, Krisnan Inu, Eric Grothe and Timana Tahu, but they will likely come up against a brick-wall defence.
The Storm conceded the fewest average points (11.1), tries (1.8), line breaks (2.9) and metres (1259) per game in 2007 and have let through only one try in the final 20 minutes of their past 11 matches.
Add the fact that Melbourne have won seven of the past eight matches between the two sides and it's not hard to see why punters are so confident.
In any other NRL town, it would add up to immense pressure.
But the city of Melbourne has been more preoccupied by this weekend's match between Collingwood and Geelong and by news that West Coast's AFL star Chris Judd is keen on a move back to the Victorian capital.
It leaves the Storm to do what they do best - win rugby league matches.