A birthday, retirement announcement; Melbourne Storm five-eighth Brett Finch is looking to cap a big week of celebrations with victory over Parramatta.
The NRL champions host the last-placed Eels at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon, gunning for their fourth straight win.
While most pundits believe the only way Melbourne could lose is if they failed to turn up, Finch said the Storm were wary of what Parramatta could produce.
“They’ve got nothing to lose and sometimes that’s the most dangerous teams to play against, teams with that sort of mind-set,” Finch said.
“We’ve watched some footage of them over the last couple of weeks and they have periods where they’ve really taken it to their opponents and looked quite dangerous with their attack.
“We’ve been around long enough to realise that if we don’t turn up with the right attitude and be prepared to do the hard work to get the result, any team can win.”
Turning 32, Finch was presented with a birthday cake by his teammates while in their four-day training camp at Nelson’s Bay, north of Newcastle.
He also announced his retirement midweek at the end of the year after 15 seasons as a professional player.
The Storm’s recent surge of form puts them on target to give the popular Finch a fairy-tale finish.
Veteran prop Jason Ryles is also retiring at season’s end.
But Finch, who stepped back into the playmaker’s role following a serious hip injury to Gareth Widdop, said there was a still a long way to go before they could think about playing in another grand final.
“We’ve built a little bit of momentum over the last couple of weeks but we need to make sure we continue that and continue to work hard and set ourselves up for the end of the year.”
Parramatta is one of five clubs Finch has played 50 games for but few players remain from his time.
Fullback-turned-five-eighth Jarryd Hayne is one but is again sidelined with a knee injury while bullocking forward Fui Fui Moi Moi was also once a teammate.
Finch said he wasn’t looking forward to being on the end of a Moi Moi charge.
“That should be fun; I won’t miss that when I stop playing that’s for sure.”