Packer primed to shoulder a greater load

Prop Russell Packer believes he has finally found his benchmark performance in a patchy season but knows he will have to more than match that against the NRLleading Storm in Melbourne tonight.

It was noticeable that Packer and the Warriors’ other big men stood up as a unit in their win against Souths in the last round. Now they are looking to take that form on the road against the unbeaten Storm.

‘‘Personally I thought it was one of my better games. I need to benchmark myself off that game and continue and improve,’’ Packer said, adding it was the collective work of the pack that pleased him as much as his own performance.

Coach Bluey Mcclennan cleverly kept rotating his workhorses, bringing more consistency to their collective work.

Mcclennan is new to the intense rivalry that runs between the two clubs and admitted placing special attention on how his players would approach this week.

‘‘I’ve been waiting for this moment and I’ve been

Melbourne, 9.05pm tonight (live Sky Sport 2) Kevin Locke, Bill Tupou, Ben Henry, Krisnan Inu, Manu Vatuvei, James Maloney, Shaun Johnson, Sione Lousi, Nathan Friend, Ben Matulino, Feleti Mateo, Simon Mannering, Elijah Taylor. Interchange (from): Russell Packer, Ukuma Ta’ai, Lewis Brown, Sam Rapira, Pita Godinet, Glen Fisiiahi. Storm: Billy Slater, Matt Duffie, Dane Nielsen, Will Chambers, Justin O’neill, Gareth Widdop, Cooper Cronk, Jesse Bromwich, Cameron Smith, Bryan Norrie, Kevin Proctor, Ryan Hoffman, Todd Lowrie. Interchange (from): Ryan Hinchcliffe, Rory Kostjasyn, Siosaia Vave, Jason Ryles, Anthony Quinn. interested as to why the players feel good about playing the Storm. Clearly they respect Melbourne and respect they have been the benchmark team over the competition, that’s what lifts them,’’ Mcclennan said.

The Warriors will need excitement and enthusiasm. They have been central to their success in the past in a fixture in which form has often been thrown out the window. But they will also need far more accuracy if they are to pull this one off.

Mcclennan wants his team to pick up where it left off against Souths – especially with a good start – but admits the defence still need attention.

‘‘We can develop that further,’’ Mcclennan said of his team’s attack. ‘‘When we play with patience or ruthlessness and we complete our sets we have the ability to score points.

‘‘It’s going to get tested against Melbourne, who have the best defence, but I’m really confident that if we have better than 50 per cent of the ledger we will score points.

The Warriors had been working hard on their defensive work on the left edge with Shaun Johnson and Feleti Mateo.

‘‘It’s the other side of the ledger we have to improve – with our defence.

‘‘It’s where we can make some good gains – that’s where the Storm will attack, we know that.’’

Johnson and big wing Manu Vatuvei are expected to play despite the Warriors having injury cover for them after both picked up knocks in the Anzac test loss playing for the Kiwis against Australia in Auckland last Friday.