Melbourne great Cameron Smith can tick another box with victory in Sunday’s grand final in winning his first NRL premiership without the other members of the Big Three by his side.

The trio of Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater were dubbed with that moniker for delivering sustained success to the Storm for more than a decade.

While they had two titles stripped for salary cap cheating, they were part of the Storm’s 2012 crown and again held aloft the trophy in 2017.

Cronk then won two premierships with the Sydney Roosters while Slater retired at the end of 2018.

Smith feels confident the men who now wear those famous Storm jerseys – halfback Jahrome Hughes and fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen – can deliver a win over Penrith at ANZ Stadium.

“Their form over the last six weeks,” said Smith, when asked why he thinks he can win without Cronk and Slater.

“If you’ve been watching games over the last month and a half I think that shows you why I’d have confidence in those players – and not just myself, the rest of the team and the coaches as well.”

He felt that skilful Hughes and electric Papenhuyzen had put their own stamp on the team this season.

“It wasn’t about trying to find the next Billy Slater or the next Cooper Cronk and trying to get someone to emulate the way they played,” the eight-time grand finalist said.

“The reality is, we weren’t going to see another two players like that, we just had to encourage these young guys to come in and with the coaches’ guidance, give them the opportunity to be their very best.

“That’s what we’re seeing at the moment.”

Smith said both Papenhuyzen and Hughes had come on in “leaps and bounds” this year, and made special mention of the growth of the halfback, who also started his career in the No.1 jersey.

He felt they had benefited from coach Craig Bellamy anointing them in the pre-season rather than chopping and changing.

“Those two guys have been outstanding this year and I think particularly with Jerome,” the 37-year-old said.

“With Craig telling them, ‘Ryan, you’re the fullback and Jerome you’re the halfback’ at the very start of pre-season, it gave them an opportunity to try and settle into the team, build their combinations with their teammates around them and now we see the result of a lot of their hard work.”