Melbourne forward Ryan Hinchcliffe believes the weekend off courtesy of rugby league's representative round will benefit Storm heading into their Round 9 clash with rivals Manly at AAMI Park.
Those not participating in the four representative matches last weekend were treated to an early season break before returning to the training track on Tuesday morning.
"It was good to get back out on the paddock actually, we've had a few days off the guys who didn't play in the representative weekend," Hinchcliffe said.
"I was able to go home back to Temora for a few days, certainly my body appreciated having a few days off.
"It's back to business now and we are looking forward to Manly this Saturday."
Speaking to the media following training on Gosch's Paddock, Hinchcliffe was buoyant about the vibe around the club as they begun preparations for Saturday night's match-up in Melbourne.
"I can only speak for myself but I know coming back today I was bouncing in," Hinchcliffe said.
"It certainly felt good at training today and we had a really good session.
"It's a good start to the week and I hope the other boys are feeling the same."
The Storm utility refused to buy into speculation about whether or not playmaker Daly Cherry-Evans would take to the field on Saturday night, declaring Manly would provide a stern test regardless.
"Whenever we play Manly it's always a tough game, no matter who is playing for them, not matter who is playing for us," Hinchcliffe said.
"It's going to be a hard fought game, they're a really quality side and they are in some really good form. They're a really dangerous outfit.
"For us it is about working on our defence, we've been quite disappointed this year with some of our defence at times and we've been working on that."
