After a confidence-boosting win over the high-flying Broncos, Melbourne will hit the road this weekend as they take on a Dolphins side feeling fresh after enjoying a week off with the bye.
The Storm were made to work for the two points in Round 11 but will certainly take plenty from a 24-16 win that has them just two points off the top of the table despite an up-and-down year so far.
Craig Bellamy will know his side are up against another tough challenge this week as they take on supercoach Wayne Bennett for his 901st career game.
Bennett's Dolphins were humming at Magic Round as they dispatched of Cronulla with a first-half attacking blitz, and will no doubt be eager to build on their Suncorp success this week with several injured troops back on deck.
All eyes will be on the return of Felise Kaufusi, Kenny and Jesse Bromwich as they face off against their Storm for the first time since departing at the end of 2022 to join the NRL's newest franchise, while Jarrod Wallace is tracking towards the 200th NRL game of his career.
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Team News
Dolphins: Captain Jesse Bromwich (hamstring) and centre Brenko Lee (hamstring) will both make their return from injury, while Ray Stone (head knock) is also back on deck. Mark Nicholls will be at least another week away in his return from a thumb injury, after dropping out of the squad on Friday night.
Storm: Tui Kamikamica moves from the interchange to start in the front-row in a late swap with Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who copped a knock to the ribs last week. Grant Anderson replaced Tom Eisenhuth on the interchange in the only change in the 24-hour update. Tariq Sims is 18th man.
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Stat Attack
- No player is averaging more points per game than Jamayne Isaako (10.8).
- The Dolphins and Storm both rank in the top four for set completion at 81%.
- The Dolphins have made the fewest errors of any side with 85.
- Jeremy Marshall-King and Jamayne Isaako are both yet to win against the Storm through five and six games respectively.
- The Storm require 14 points for 1,000 points at Suncorp Stadium.
- Storm winger Will Warbrick has scored five tries in his past six games.
- Dolphins winger Tesi Niu has scored four tries in his past three games.
- Dolphins prop Jarrod Wallace will play his 200th NRL game.
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Stats supplied by David Middleton, League Information Services, author of the