It's business as usual at Melbourne after fears the NRL club could be decimated by State of Origin selections.
There was talk the Storm could lose up to eight players from their line-up, with Cameron Munster, Felise Kaufusi, Dale Finucane, Jordan McLean and veteran fullback Billy Slater set for Origin duty.
While McLean is the Blues' 19th man, the shock omission of Slater and non-selection of the others means Melbourne are only without Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Will Chambers.
Ahead of Friday night's NRL clash with Newcastle at AAMI Park, prop Tim Glasby said there was a silver lining to only have three players involved in Origin.
"We love our players playing rep footy because it's such a great achievement but we're certainly happy to have them around the club and fresh for the games," Glasby said.
He said the squad were preparing as usual, including Kiwi Test prop Jesse Bromwich who will return from a two-game ban.
"We've got a pretty good system now through the Origin period and, if those three can come back and slot into our team on Friday, then we'll be more than happy to have them," Glasby said.
"It gives the emerging leaders around the place a chance to step up and pick up their game a little bit."
Looking at ladder positions, it looks a comfortable clash with first versus last, but Glasby says the Storm are wary of the Knights.
Melbourne have won their past two meetings, but only by four-point margins, while the Knights had laimed the two before that.
"They may not have too many wins on the board, but they've had a lot of close games this year and they always play well against us in Melbourne, so it's going to be a close game on Friday night," Glasby said.
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