The Storm, who led early in the second half, couldn’t deliver the final blow required against the Roosters last week and suffered a 24 – 12 defeat after the Roosters finished with three tries in the final fifteen minutes.

The Storm dominated play for the majority of the match, forcing the Roosters in to six goal line drop-outs and fifteen errors but in the end, could only conjure up two tries, both to fullback Billy Slater.

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Whilst the Storm have won five of their past eight, last week’s clash was only their second during that time, against a top eight side.

The Storm now sit in sixth spot, one win ahead of their opponents this weekend making it a must win match as a loss here, combined with wins to Canterbury (Titans) and Warriors (Panthers) could in fact see them miss the eight.

The Storm return to AAMI Park for only the second time in the past seven weeks, a venue where their record this year reads 7 – 4, and that will prove vital in a do or die match like this.

Ryan Hinchcliffe has been named to start with Jordan McLean dropping back to the bench.

The Broncos continued to walk the finals tight-rope with a 30 – 22 win over the Dragons at Suncorp last Friday night.

Their victory and the Eels’ lost, sees the Brisbane Club in eighth spot on the ladder but in need of a win here as both the Eels (Raiders) and Warriors (Penrith) are on the same amount of competition points as them.

The Broncos continued their recent run of good starts last week, something they didn’t do when they lost 30 – 8 to the Storm earlier in the year, and raced to a 24 – 4 lead at the half-time break.

The Broncos let the Dragons back into the game in the second half though, something that they will not be able to afford to do against a generally ruthless Storm side.

Having spent three of the last four weeks at home, the Broncos have played themselves into some form however, when leaving the Sunshine State they’ve lost their last four matches – all against top eight sides.

The Broncos have named an unchanged side.

HEAD TO HEAD

The Storm has the wood on the Broncos having won nine of the eleven matches played between the two sides, the last seven in succession.

Three of the last four Bronco visits to AAMI Park, where they last won in 2010, have ended in heavy defeats, all by 13 +.

With so much riding on this game though for both sides, expect a close clash but with the Storm’s strong record against the Broncos and playing at home, they should prevail.

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Melbourne Storm:
Billy Slater, Sisa Waqa, William Chambers, Mahe Fonua, Marika Koroibete, Ben Roberts, Cooper Cronk, Jesse Bromwich, Cameron Smith (c), Bryan Norrie, Kevin Proctor, Ryan Hoffman, Ryan Hinchcliffe. Interchange: Tim Glasby, Tohu Harris, Dayne Weston, Jordan McLean, Junior Moors, Justin O’Neill
Ins: Junior Moors, Justin O’Neill
Outs: None
Other unavailables: Matt Duffie (ACL, season), Slade Griffin (ACL, season)

Brisbane Broncos:
Justin Hodges, Daniel Vidot, Jack Reed, Dale Copley, Lachlan Maranta, Ben Barba, Ben Hunt, Josh McGuire, Andrew McCullough, Corey Parker, Alex Glenn, Matt Gillett, Sam Thaiday. Interchange: Jarrod Wallace, Martin Kennedy, Ben Hannant, Corey Oates, Todd Lowrie
Ins: Todd Lowrie
Outs: None
Other unavailables: Josh Hoffman (ankle, finals week one), Mitchell Dodds (knee, season), David Stagg (foot, season)