Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy says their clash with Canterbury presents the biggest challenge of their unbeaten start to the NRL season.
The table-topping Storm are set to equal their best ever opening should they notch their seventh straight when they host the third-placed Bulldogs at AAMI Park on Saturday afternoon.
“The Bulldogs are going along really well,” Bellamy said.
“They’ve got some really good players in their side who are in good form; obviously young (fullback Ben) Barba’s a really dangerous player and certainly (centre) Josh Morris is probably playing as well as he’s ever played.
“They’ll come down here really determined to play well.”
The Bulldogs will have to do just that to upset the Storm, who among their stats lead the NRL in tries scored (37), line breaks, tries conceded and least errors.
Preferring to focus on each round as it comes, Bellamy said he didn’t set such lofty benchmarks pre-season but admitted he was excited by his team’s performances.
“I’ve been really excited by the way the guys have been playing each week; the way they’ve responded to some adversity in some games,” he said.
“We’re excited with the way we’ve started the season without a doubt, but we just want to take it week by week.”
Bellamy will come up against Bulldogs coach Des Hasler, who until this season led Melbourne’s arch-rivals Manly.
He said he could see Hasler was starting to put his mark on the Bulldogs.
“Without a doubt, Des’s teams have certainly got a stamp about them,” Bellamy said.
“It won’t happen overnight with a new club but you can certainly see some things there and some individuals who have changed a bit that are Des Hasler-influenced.”
A key match-up will be Storm’s in-form fullback Billy Slater and Barba, who was the competition’s equal leading tryscorer last season.
“Ben Barba is really hard to shut down,” Bellamy said.
“You’re never quite sure what you’re going to get from him because he can turn up at the most opportune time with that wonderful pace he’s got and anticipation.”