Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy admits he's astounded his team is at the top of the NRL ladder with the finals looming.
Before their round 20 clash with Canberra at AAMI Park on Saturday night, Bellamy says he's not sure the reigning champions "deserve" to be the front runners.
"I'm as surprised as anyone and I don't know whether we deserve to be up there but it's been that sort of competition this year," Bellamy said on Friday.
"It's ebbed and flowed and teams have ebbed and flowed and I don't think there's been any real stand-out teams.
"We're very happy with where we are and we did a really, really good job through Origin.
"While we didn't always execute that great our effort was always right up there and I think that's why we are where we are at the moment and we'd obviously like to stay there."
With just four points separating first and eighth, it's the closest the top eight have been at this point of the competition since 1999.
"It's been strange ...it's a really tight competition and obviously it's a good thing for fans and I think it will continue to be a unpredictable season," Bellamy said.
Some key refereeing decision robbed the the Raiders of a win over Cronulla last round and Bellamy expected them to be fired up against his team.
"Last week would have been a real tough week for them and they've got a big powerful footy team and are always hard to play against, especially if they get a high percentage of the footy," he said.
"We will need to defend really well."
Stand-in Canberra skipper Josh Hodgson said the Raiders were down for a few days after the disappointment of the Cronulla result but were now ready for an assault on the Storm - with a solid start a key to causing an upset after they trailed the Sharks 22-6.
"They're starting to hit some form and we know we're going to have to be completing well, especially in the first half as we gifted too much possession away" Hodgson said.
"If you give the Storm good field position more often than not you're going to pay for it."
