KEY POINTS:
Coaches like to stick with winning teams to promote cohesion and the Warriors that run out at Olympic Park in Melbourne on Sunday will be the ones that beat Parramatta. The Storm have made just one change from the side that demolished Souths.
Steve Turner comes back on
the right wing for the Storm after missing two games with a knee injury.
Their lock Dallas Johnson hobbled off with a knee problem last Sunday and has taken no part in training so far this week but is expected to pass a fitness test later this week and so was named yesterday by coach Craig Bellamy.
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary has exactly the same starting 13 and last week's interchange players again named on the bench, with Epalahame Lauaki to travel too.
The Warriors beat Melbourne 8-6 six weeks ago at Mt Smart and only they and Cronulla have won at Olympic Park since 2006. So they have a sniff, as the Aussies would say.
But Melbourne dropped just seven games this season and three of those defeats came when there were as many as 10 players in camp with the two State of Origin sides and coach Craig Bellamy was in charge of New South Wales. They lost just three games in 2007 and four in roundplay in 2006, plus the grand final loss to Brisbane.
So they have been the outstanding benchmark for three seasons now. It is that length of experience, the consistency and the confidence that brings which is the Warriors' biggest obstacle on Sunday.
If the Storm lose they get another chance, if the Warriors lose they are gone.
If the Warriors wish to avoid their Mad Monday dawning on September 15 the requirement is threefold: First, they must employ great speed off their defensive line to harass and stifle Melbourne's attackers; second, they must make all their tackles, no misses, and preferably stop the ball too; and third, they need to score plenty of points.
While the result of the last game between the sides produced just 14 points, you can bet there will be more in this one. The weather should be better and so will the handling.
There is absolutely no doubt that the likes of Greg Inglis and Israel Folau will get across the line. The Warriors must get Brent Tate and Manu Vatuvei across too to stay with them.
Storm captain Cameron Smith rates the 2008 team the best of the three that have taken consecutive minor premierships.
"I think this time we are just a lot more experienced and I think we have had a tougher season this year," said Smith. An ominous Storm warning.
The Warriors under-20s side face St George in the finals of the new Toyota Cup as the curtainraiser.
The Broncos side that beat Newcastle is the one that will face the Roosters on Friday night. The Sydneysiders have lost big forward Willie Mason, gone for the season after undergoing knee surgery yesterday.
Jason Nightingale returns for the Dragons against Manly at fullback after missing last week with injury, the only change to the team that beat the Roosters. Manly are unchanged.
The Raiders have shifted Ryan Hinchcliffe to hooker so that Glen Buttriss can play halfback against the Sharks on Saturday. Marshall Chalk returns after injury and Joel Thompson is dropped from their bench. The Sharks yesterday named the same side that beat North Queensland last week though Aucklander Fraser Anderson must overcome a knee injury.
Warriors
Lance Hohaia, Aidan Kirk, Brent Tate, Jerome Ropati, Manu Vatuvei, Michael Witt, Nathan Fien, Ruben Wiki, Ian Henderson, Steve Price (captain), Simon Mannering, Ben Matulino, Micheal Luck.
Interchange (one to be omitted): Grant Rovelli, Evarn Tuimavave, Sam Rapira, Logan Swann, Epalahame Lauaki.