He may be walking around wearing a moon boot to protect a sore foot but Melbourne’s superstar Billy Slater is on course to break the NRL try scoring record.

The Storm fullback is expected to play in Sunday’s clash with North Queensland.

However, medical staff are concerned Slater’s injury could develop into a stress fracture, and his training schedule is being modified to protect him.

The problem with his foot, which Storm coach Craig Bellamy described as a “tendonitis-type issue”, makes his electric start to the season all the more remarkable.

Slater has scored nine tries in Melbourne’s first five games of 2012 and showed no ill-effects from the collarbone he shattered during the Four Nations tournament in the UK late last year.

His solitary four-pointer against Newcastle on Friday, prevented him becoming the first player in 100 years to score doubles in five successive games.

However, he’s well on course to break Nathan Blacklock’s record of 27 tries in a NRL season, achieved in 2001 for St George Illawarra.

It leaves Slater needing 18 more tries in 19 games to overhaul the former NSW winger’s longstanding milestone.

The 28-year-old’s dynamic performances have resulted in the table-topping Storm’s unbeaten start to the season but Bellamy is wary of overloading the Queensland star ahead of the representative season.

“The rep period is just around the corner so we want to try and restrict his training as much as possible without harming what he needs to do for the team each week as well,” Bellamy said.

“The medical staff thought it was a good idea to keep him in a boot over the weekend.

“It’s far from a stress fracture at the moment but, if he does over-use it, he could end up in that situation.”

The concern over the Dally M Medal winner’s foot could even lead to Bellamy resting Slater from some matches.

A similar decision by Bellamy last year in the final game of the season almost cost a furious Slater the Dally M, but Bellamy said he wouldn’t hesitate to make the decision again.

“I’m pretty much sure he’ll be playing this week,” he said.

“But if our medical department come to me and say he needs a week off this week, we’ll consider it.”

The news is much worse for the Storm’s Kiwi international second-rower Sika Manu, who will be sidelined for six to 10 weeks with an ankle injury suffered in last weekend’s win over Newcastle.

“That’s not good for us,” said Bellamy.

“Sika was just starting to hit some really good form.

“Sometimes he starts the season a little slowly but he’s been pretty good this year and the last couple of weeks he has been outstanding.”

Bellamy said Melbourne had several players who could step up and cover for Manu including Kevin Proctor, Todd Lowrie and Kenny Bromwich.

Young New Zealander Tohu Harris could also have come into calculations to make his NRL debut, had he not hurt his knee last weekend.