Melbourne say Manly are at their best with their backs against the wall and expect them to come out firing in their NRL clash on Saturday night at Brookvale.

The teams have had contrasting starts to 2015 – and that’s what worries the Storm.

While it’s been smooth sailing for Melbourne, Manly could lose both their star halves with Daly Cherry-Evans announcing he will quit the club for the Titans in 2016 and Kieran Foran linked to Parramatta.

Compounding the turmoil at the club, they were thumped in the opening round 42-12 by the Eels.

The Storm opened their season with a gritty 12-4 win over the Dragons, with their steely defence a highlight.

Five-eighth Blake Green may be new to the Storm but he is well aware of the history between the two NRL clubs, including the infamous 2011 “Battle of Brookvale”.

“Obviously the club has had some big games against Manly in the past and we all know how well they rally around each other when they’re under the pump and the type of performance they can put in and that’s what we’re expecting,” Green said.

“They’ve been known as a team that digs in for a fight and they’ve shown plenty of resolve over the past few years so we’re expecting nothing less on Saturday.”

The Storm made defence a priority in their off-season and Green said hard-marking coach Craig Bellamy had given them the thumbs up.

“Something he (Bellamy) highlighted pretty early on was that he was disappointed with how we defended last season,” Green said.

“He was pretty happy with Monday night’s effort defensively but we need to improve our discipline a little bit and control the ball better as well.”

Green, who joined the Storm after four years in the Super League, put their stuttering attack down to a huge defensive effort, with only 43 per cent of possession.

He said they created plenty of chances against the Dragons, but let themselves down through unforced errors.

“When we threw stuff at them we challenged them a little bit and put a few dents in them but then we would come up with an error which stopped our momentum,” Green said.

“If we can cut them out then we can throw back-to-back shapes at them and put them under pressure.”

Meanwhile, the Storm will be without prop Felise Kaufusi after he accepted a one-week ban for a dangerous tackle.