7 Apr 2018

Storm link to Warriors success

11:29 am on 7 April 2018

The undefeated Warriors might have made a hot start to season 2018, but some of the secrets to their success are already being noted by opposition teams.

Tohu Harris moved from the Storm to the Warriors for the 2018 NRL season.

Tohu Harris moved from the Storm to the Warriors for the 2018 NRL season. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport

Reigning premiers Melbourne Storm have, in particular, seen a touch of themselves in the Auckland side's romping four match NRL win streak.

Coach Craig Bellamy says he has been watching with pride from afar as three of his former Storm charges have played integral roles for the Warriors.

Five-eighth Blake Green, and backrowers Tohu Harris and Adam Blair have each played for the Storm in a grand final at one time or another.

But as new signings to the Warriors, they were expected to add steel and experience to a side that had long languished near the bottom of the NRL ladder.

Bellamy believes they have done so with panache.

"They've been playing the house down," he said ahead of Melbourne's clash with Wests Tigers in Auckland on Saturday.

"We're really proud of those players."

With the Warriors set to take on the Cowboys in front of an expected full house in Auckland on Saturday - in a match that directly follows the Storm game - the home side could be forgiven for being jittery under the home pressure.

However, Storm captain Cameron Smith eyed another Melbourne export in fitness guru Alex Corvo as a key to helping the Warriors prepare for the occasion.

Brought to the Warriors from Brisbane last year, Corvo earlier spent 12 years at the Storm, with Smith remembering those preseasons as some of the hardest of his career.

"The one thing that you were guaranteed to be was extremely fit, both physically and mentally to start," he said.

It is a quality Smith sees in the Warriors this year.

"It's probably what you haven't seen from the Warriors in the past. They've always been very physical and very skilful but sometimes can't last that 80 minutes," he said.

"But these guys they are all in really good shape. It's allowing them to play some very good footy."

For his part, Warriors coach Stephen Kearney is not buying into the notion a raucous home crowd could upset his troops, given their lack of experience on the big stage.

"We are coming up against a champion side with champion players in (the Cowboys)," he said.

"We know what's coming, and we've prepared accordingly."

- AAP