An improved Brisbane insist there will be no “stage fright” when they seek to improve a remarkably lop-sided NRL ledger against Melbourne on Friday night.
The Storm have won 16 of the side’s last 18 games and not lost to Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium since 2009.
The ladder-leaders are so good in Brisbane that their 80 per cent win rate at the venue is better than at their home ground, while the Storm are the only team able to boast a winning record against the Broncos.
The Storm have outscored Brisbane 249-120 in their last eight Suncorp Stadium encounters, with four of their past five wins by at least 14 points.
Anthony Seibold is new to the Broncos job but the former Storm assistant coach has seen the dominance from the other side of the fence and knows what to expect.
“There’s no secret to what they (Melbourne) do; there’s real clarity around what they do and they have some outstanding players,” he said.
“There’s a lot of teams, a lot of coaches (in Brisbane) that have come before me that haven’t been able to get the job done.
“But it’s not about having stage fright; this group’s ready to play a game like this.”
Storm coach Craig Bellamy said they couldn’t simply rely on their location to get them home.
“Our record’s pretty good up here but what’s happened in the past,” he said.
“Just because we’re playing up here it’s not going to help us play well; we have to make it happen.”
Brisbane have taken positive steps after a rough start to the Seibold era, moving to eighth thanks to an undefeated month.
“We’ve copped a lot of criticism for our start to the year, but if you look at the last 10 weeks we’ve won six and drawn one,” he said.
“Dig a bit deeper than that and the last 12 weeks we’ve won seven, drawn one.
“We’ve shown consistency for the better part of three months and we’re playing the long game.
“Whether it’s this year, next year or the year after, we’ll get to where we want to go.”
The likely absence of Matt Gillett (back) will intensify the pressure on 19-year-old forwards trio David Fifita, Patrick Carrigan and Payne Haas in their battle with the Storm’s experienced pack.
Meanwhile, Seibold also confirmed 18-year-old halfback Tom Dearden would return for Queensland Cup outfit Wynnum from an ankle injury suffered in round 13.