If the Melbourne Storm go on to defend their NRL crown, Cameron Smith will glance back at the State of Origin weeks as the bedrock.
A 12-6 win over the Warriors in Auckland was the seventh in a row for the first-placed premiers, all racked up at a time of year when it was thought they may struggle.
Smith barely saw Billy Slater, Josh Addo-Carr, Will Chambers, Cameron Munster and Felise Kaufusi during that period.
Forwards Jesse Bromwich and Dale Finucane were sidelined with injury for most of it too, leaving Smith holding the fort with a green-looking side.
Three one-point wins and their hard-fought display at Mt Smart Stadium leaves them poised to now push on over the closing six weeks.
"We've certainly put ourselves in a very good position at this stage of the season and really off the back of just playing some tough football over the last eight weeks," retired Maroons great Smith said.
"We've won a lot of close games, a lot of matches where we haven't necessarily been at our best but effort and the willingness to stay in the fight has got us home."
With four of their last six games in Melbourne, starting against the Raiders next week, Smith expects his team will start to open the throttle.
They've done it in fits and starts, including the 50-10 skewering of the Warriors on Anzac Day.
"We haven't really blown any teams off the park consistently," he said.
"That's really where we need to sit down and get serious about our performances, and try to make it easier on ourselves for the remainder of the season."
