Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy isn't surprised the Sydney Roosters are chasing his team for the NRL minor premiership.
But he is surprised that they've come from second last on the 2016 NRL competition ladder to do it.
The teams will meet in a top-of-the-table clash at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night in a Roosters home game, with both sides hopeful of having their swag of State of Origin players on deck.
While the Storm have a four-point buffer on the Roosters, Bellamy has been impressed by the Sydneysiders, who finished only ahead of Newcastle last season.
"I didn't realise they finished 15th - them finishing there with almost the same side they've got now is a surprise," Bellamy said on Wednesday.
"I'm not sure what happened last year but in the years before that they were minor premiers three years in a row and they've been close to the best team so far this year that I've seen."
Bellamy said that former South Sydney five-eighth Luke Keary had been key to the Roosters' resurgence, adding another element to their attacking options alongside fellow playmaker Mitchell Pearce.
"I always had a high opinion of him when he played at Souths," he said.
"He brings a lot of energy to your team but he's also very skilful and a really clever player as well and probably the trait I really like about him is he's a tough little rooster."
While the Storm have five players in the Maroons they can take confidence from their performance against North Queensland last round, with rising stars such as Brodie Croft, Curtis Scott and Brandon Smith making the most of their opportunities as replacements for the unavailable representative players.
Bellamy let them celebrate the golden point victory but on Monday reminded them of how close they came to blowing a win, given they were eight points up with just over three minutes remaining in regular time.
"I didn't want to spoil the night because it was a pretty special night for the club and for those guys but we were that close to, instead of enjoying our beer, crying into it," Bellamy said.
"As a team we know there's a few things we need to do better and some of those guys, there's some things they need to better as well.
"We forgot about that for the weekend but when we came back Monday that was our focus."
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