The pre-match hype will be all about the romance of the South Sydney revival and the clash between superstar fullbacks Greg Inglis and Billy Slater.

Not to mention the likes of Inglis, Matt King, Michael Crocker and South Sydney coach Michael Maguire squaring off against their former club.

But Storm second-rower Ryan Hoffman still expects Saturday night’s much-anticipated NRL qualifying final to be decided by rather more prosaic matters.

“The key aspect in finals footy is taking your opportunities,” Hoffman said on Tuesday.

“You never know when you’re going to get another one.

“When you come up against a good team, one that defends well, when they give you a chance to put points on the board or get repeat sets you have to take them.

“… Both teams pride themselves on their defence.

“We’re expecting a very close and tough game and I’m sure that’s what we’re going to get.”

Hoffman, 28, returned to the Storm this year after a one-year stint in the English Super League at Wigan under the stewardship of Maguire, who also spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Melbourne.

In a sense, Hoffman feels like he never left the Storm, even though the current team is a less experienced outfit than the one which claimed the 2007 and 2009 NRL titles, only to have them stripped by the NRL.

“I wanted to come back to the Storm because I wanted to play finals footy again and it’s great that the club has given me the opportunity,” said Hoffman.

“We’ve got a lot of younger players, most of them got a taste of finals footy last year and unfortunately fell short.

“But hopefully last year’s experience is going to give them confidence and give them the experience that they can handle what finals footy gives them.”

Souths co-captain King – who spent five happy years with Melbourne from 2003-07 – was an interested spectator as the Storm downed Wests Tigers 26-6 at Leichhardt Oval last weekend.

He caught up with his former teammates after the match, but any further contact will have to wait until after the final whistle on Saturday night at AAMI Park.

Hoffman insisted the strong Storm flavour in the Rabbitohs’ lineup wouldn’t change how either team approached the match.

“If you start going too much on the emotion you forget what you’re actually there for, which is to play a game of rugby league and win a game of rugby league,” he said.

“We don’t think about that too much – they’re just another team.”

AAP