Some say Melbourne Storm are a team in transition, others question whether Cameron Smith has lost his crown as the NRL's best hooker.
Via Roy Ward / The Age.
But the Storm will aim to shut down the doubters as they take on fellow premiership contender South Sydney Rabbitohs at AAMI Park on Friday night.
The Storm went into the NRL shutdown with a 2-0 record but last week's loss to an impressive Canberra Raiders fuelled talk about the team's demise this week, especially after Storm coach Craig Bellamy described his side's performance as "embarrassing" post-game.
Melbourne will be without star prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona due to suspension while Bellamy has put the hard word on a number of players to improve, especially in attack where the team struggled to play their usual organised style.
"We've all had our say this week and practiced what is most important," Bellamy said on Thursday.
"Hopefully we will get a response on Friday night."
A loss to the Rabbitohs would only make those calls louder and Souths coach Wayne Bennett added his voice to concerns about the Storm, describing his old rivals as a team in transition as young talents such as Ryan Papenhuyzen and Cameron Munster step up to replace superstars Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk.
