HERE'S a scary thought for the other 12 sides still in contention for the National Rugby League premiership — Melbourne is only just warming up.

That's the opinion of Storm coach Craig Bellamy, who admitted his troops were still struggling after the state-of-origin series.

Still, the Storm has managed five wins from six matches since the completion of the origin series, including a 16-10 win over Manly last Friday night, which lifted Melbourne into a three-way share of the competition lead.

"All wins are important, but I suppose since the origin series, we've been labouring a little bit at some stages in some games," Bellamy said.

"We think there's some areas of our game we can improve and we'll have to improve, but there were some good signs to be able to play 80 minutes at that intensity (against Manly), even though we probably didn't execute it as well as we'd like.

"The origin series takes a lot out of some guys physically and takes a lot out of some guys mentally, so even during and after the origin series, there's usually some signs there that we've had nine or 10 players who haven't been at their best."

With four regular-season games remaining, Bellamy said he would get the side back into a more familiar routine as he signalled an end to the rotation policy he had adopted over the past month. As well as breaks during the week, Queensland origin forwards Dallas Johnson and Michael Crocker have both been given recent games off.

But with one eye on the minor premiership and another on the finals, it's all hands on deck from here on in.

"A lot of it's mental, especially this time of the year, but we're sort of concentrating a little bit more on our physical stuff at the moment because we gave the origin players a whole heap of rest," Bellamy said.

Injuries among his outside backs are hampering Bellamy's ability to ramp up the physical work, with star five-eighth Greg Inglis and wingers Steve Turner and Anthony Quinn all sitting out yesterday's training session.

Bellamy declined to specify the nature of Turner's injury, while Inglis and Quinn are both battling long-term ankle concerns.

"There's probably a couple that might be a little bit of a concern for this week … I don't think it's going to stop them playing, but … it restricts their preparation."

AAP