Three weeks into his pre-season campaign, Storm halfback Cooper Cronk says its the Club's young leaders who have impressed him since his return to full training in early January.
"I've only been back at training for a few weeks now but the most pleasing thing for me compared to this time last year is that our younger to middle age group are the ones driving our sessions at the moment," Cronk said.
"Hopefully that can continue. I'm very much looking forward, like everyone to see how they perform on the weekend (at the Auckland Nines)."
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A number of the Club's up and coming prospects will feature in this weekend's Auckland Nines and while Cronk won't be there, he's keen to see Storm's next generation test themselves against the rest of the competition.
"We get our first look with how our younger group is tracking with the Nines this weekend," Cronk said.
"From my personal point of view, if I was 21, 22, I'd be putting my hand up to play the game.
"I think it's a great concept, it engages the rugby league community and showcases it to the world."
With Melbourne set to play four consecutive weekends of pre-season matches over the next month, Cronk explained to the media his pre-season trial game schedule was not yet set in stone as he continues to prepare for Round 1.
"That is yet to be determined at the moment. I haven't sat down with Craig, I've just got back into the full swing of things in terms of training," Cronk said.
"We've got a little more depth in the halves this year, we've got a few guys we want to try and experience.
"I'll play some form of football but not really sure what that will be yet."
