Melbourne NRL coach Craig Bellamy says the Storm will be made to pay for their poor ball control when they face the in-form Cowboys in round two.
Melbourne take on North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday night, backing up after their 30-10 romp over the Dragons to open their NRL title defence.
Despite the comprehensive win, the Storm blew a number of attacking raids close to the tryline.
They uncharacteristically finished with 25 of 39 completions which Bellamy said needed to improve against the Cowboys, who outplayed 2012 grand finalists Canterbury 24-12.
“We need to control the ball a little bit better up there, in those conditions which we’re not used to,” said Bellamy.
“If we come up with the same sort of completions this week I don’t think the result will be the same.”
The Cowboys have also been buoyed by the re-signing of skipper Johnathan Thurston, who was integral to their big first round win.
“Obviously they’d be a pretty happy bunch,” said Bellamy.
“Re-signing JT is a great coup for them.
“He’s a wonderful player and a wonderful competitor.”
He said the Cowboys had obviously worked hard on their defence through the pre-season, which looked much sterner against the Bulldogs.
The Storm’s challenge has also gone up a notch with the extreme heat in Melbourne disrupting their preparation.
Bellamy cancelled training on Tuesday with the temperature hitting 37 degrees; the ninth day of 30 plus temperatures in Melbourne.
They are mindful they have another game next Thursday night against the Bulldogs back in Melbourne.
“We’ll probably have three training sessions for two games,” said Bellamy.
“After playing up there on Saturday night we certainly won’t get any chance for more than one training session before the Bulldogs so it certainly affects our preparation and practising our game plan.”
The Storm have made contact with the NRL regarding their concerns over heat and player welfare.