That year, the Dragons went through the season undefeated, with 19 wins and a draw with Balmain. Melbourne captain Cameron Smith is too smart to bite when asked if he thinks his team is the best rugby league has seen in 60 years. Storm haters hate the Storm enough already. Loading And there is, of course, a grand final to reach and then win, starting with Saturday night’s qualifying final against Canberra at AAMI Park. “But the stats say we're a very consistent footy side,” Smith said. “In the losses we have had there hasn't been a blow-out and we have been in the match right up to our earholes.”

What Smith will say is this has been one of the most consistent teams he’s been part of since his first at the club in 2002. “One of,” he said. “We had a look at a couple of other teams who have played well for the entire season coming into the last round and it was the ’07 Storm and ’17 Storm. They had some pretty good stats but this team has done some really good things. “As minor premiers, we had the best attack as far as points scored and the best defence for points conceded. Up to this point, I can't say enough good things about this footy side — but that’s not going to help us going into the next month, and in particular this week.” After last year’s grand final loss to the Roosters, Bellamy put his squad through one of its most brutal pre-seasons in years. The reason was Bellamy had several young players in his side and he wanted to show them what was expected of a Storm player.

“This season, there has been no Billy Slater, no Ryan Hoffman, Tim Glasby and Slade Griffin moved on as well,” Smith said. “We had a lot of guys missing and they have been replaced by kids. “[This season] is all due to the hard work that those young boys put in. I came back and did 10 weeks of the pre-season, the longest pre-season I have had in quite a long time. It was almost like the pre-season when I was first starting. It was like starting again and building the fundamentals in these young guys.” Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The knock on the Storm is that, despite their consistent season, they will struggle to find another gear in September. The Roosters, however, apparently have several gears. “I am really confident those younger players will play well,” Smith said. “They need to realise finals footy matches are different to regular-season games. You need to start hard and fast and stay that way for the entire 80 minutes. They have it in them. There is no reason why they can't go out and relish the opportunity they have got.”