Five days to prepare to face a fellow top eight side – that is the challenge that is in front of Craig Bellamy and his team this week.
Storm had little time to soak up their 40-6 win over Manly on Sunday, with arguably the toughest road trip ahead of them on Friday night.
Melbourne travel to Townsville to take on a Cowboys side that has won three of their last four games and fighting to push back into the top four.
How to prepare your side to play two games in the one week is not an exact science but the Storm hierarchy is hopeful they have found the right mix.
“It is a long way to go with a five-day turnaround,” Craig Bellamy said.
“We’ve thought through our preparation really thoroughly for this so hopefully we’ve got it right.
“We only trained for a 30 minutes yesterday and it was very light. We will do the same again tomorrow, it is all about recovery.
“Hopefully we’ve got a preparation right and we will be right to go on Friday night”
Top of the table clash! Storm v Roosters, Saturday 12 August, 5:30pm at AAMI Park!
There was an added advantage to running in five second half tries against the Sea Eagles.
Every little bit counts, meaning those long break in play after each try could prove handy against North Queensland.
“The second half had a lot of breaks with the points scored there so it probably helped us a bit with their recovery, the ball wasn’t in play a whole heap,” Bellamy said.
“We got a chance to rest some of our guys who have high work rates like Dale (Finucane) and Jesse (Bromwich).
“With that game, with how it went in the second half, hopefully that is going to help us on Friday night as well.”
