Cronulla remains a threat even without star Shaun Johnson, according to Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy who pointed out the record of the Sharks' replacement No.6 in premiership-winner Chad Townsend.
The Storm and Sharks square off at Cronulla's PointsBet Stadium on Friday night - the same ground where Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith and Cronulla stalwart Luke Lewis were sin-binned in their round four match last season for the first time in both their NRL careers.
Bellamy said he wasn't expecting any extra spice in the game but he was anticipating another tough encounter despite the Sharks' raft of injuries.
As well as Kiwi international Johnson, who is out for a month with a torn hamstring, the home side are also missing Matt Moylan (hamstring), Aaron Woods (fractured foot) and Wade Graham (ACL).
Townsend will shift from halfback to start at five-eighth and is very familiar with the visiting side after being a part of his team's thrilling 2016 grand final victory over the Storm.
Kyle Flanagan, the son of former coach Shane Flanagan, will start at halfback.
"Losing Shaun makes it hard but Chad was their halfback for a while - back in 2016 in the grand final - so he will fit in there pretty well and Flanagan's a good young player," Bellamy said.
"Their older players, like (Andrew) Fifita, (Paul) Gallen, Townsend and Josh Morris are playing well but they've got some really good kids there in (Briton) Nikora, (Bronson) Xerri and (Si) Katoa."
Despite only dropping one game from seven, Bellamy said he hadn't been happy with his team's performances since round three.
"I don't think we are where we would like to be," he said.
"We've had another four games since then and we've had a few dips.
"We want to get back to being really consistent like we were with everybody on the same page with the footy."
