Melbourne's brains trust are scratching their heads after their NRL trial against the Warriors produced the same troublesome handling errors which plagued their 2018 season.
While the Storm went all the way to the grand final, their attack regularly faltered on the back of a poor completion count.
While they thought they'd eradicated the issue in the off-season, they only managed to complete half of their sets in the Geelong match which they lost 12-6.
While the Warriors' physical defence deserved some credit, wild passes and dropped balls meant the Storm released the pressure valve more often than not.
Stand-in skipper Christian Welch said it was a frustrating performance.
"Handling errors were a frustration for all of 2018 and again (last night)," Welch said.
"We're always very happy with our effort and our defence but it's very, very frustrating that it keeps happening that we continue to make errors.
"We really need to sort it out before round one."
Apart from the errors Welch felt the young squad had a good hit-out.
Marion Seve, who is yet to make his NRL debut, impressed in the centres while Scott Drinkwater starred at fullback as he looks to replace the retired Billy Slater.
"You get glimpses of how silky these guys are and that's with us completing 50 per cent so I'd love to see when we're completing up around 80 per cent.
"If we can get our completions up I think we'll see a lot more of their talents coming out."
Off the field Welch has plenty on his mind, with the off-contract 24-year-old in talks with other NRL clubs.
Welch is negotiating for himself, and said he hoped to get a deal done early in the season.
He said ideally he wanted to stay with the Storm but felt he had to be realistic.
"I've had a few conversations with the club and with other clubs," Welch said.
"I do understand there's salary caps - in an ideal world players would love to be one club players but there are restrictions on that."
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