Most NRL teams would be happy to have 13 players pulling their weight but Melbourne are getting plenty of bang for the buck from their bench.

The Storm delivered a statement with a 34-4 win over contenders Newcastle in their Saturday afternoon match at AAMI Park, showing they won’t easily be budged from the top of the ladder.

They ran in six tries, with two coming from Bulldogs-bound second-rower Joe Stimson, who came off the bench for 23 minutes.

Prop Christian Welch put his hand up for Queensland State of Origin selection with a mighty 149m run metres from his 37 minutes on the field.

Utility back Ryan Papenhuyzen pulled off a stunning 23 tackles in his 24 minutes of play while Brandon Smith continued to impress with 73 run metres and 15 tackles in 40 minutes.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy said it was an entire team performance, built on some rock solid defence but made special mention of their bench.

“Our bench was really effective today and made a big difference to our performance,” Bellamy said.

“Our forwards did a good job and then when Brandon and then Welch came on I felt they really stepped things up.”

He said the Knights targeted the lightly-built Papenhuyzen but he showed he was up to the challenge.

“As soon as he came on they started finding him with the footy and he had to make a lot of tackles but he’s a tough kid and he will make them,” Bellamy said.

“And then when we put Joey (Stimson) on and he came up with a couple of tries.”

With their attack firing alongside their defence Bellamy said it was a performance they could be proud of and keeps them in good shape with the second Origin looming which can take a toll on their stars.

“It was a pretty good win,” he said.

“If someone said before the game this will be the score you wouldn’t have believed that so we’ve got to be very happy with that performance and continue to build on it.”