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Coach Craig Bellamy said that wrapping up the minor premiership early meant he could leave some weary Storm stars out of their long-haul flight to Townsville.
Skipper Harry Grant is expected to be among a swag of Storm players rested from their trip to Townsville after Melbourne clinched the NRL minor premiership with two games to spare.
The Storm thrashed the Dolphins 48-6 at AAMI Park on Saturday night to seal top spot on the ladder, with their closest rivals Penrith shock losers to Canberra earlier in the day.
Coach Craig Bellamy wanted to ensure his team had a top-two place locked away before deciding what troops to leave out of their clash with the Cowboys next Thursday night.
They also have another Thursday night match in Brisbane to wrap up the regular season.
Bellamy said the early minor premiership outcome meant it would change his approach to the final two rounds.
"It will, yeah, without a doubt, we'll be doing some resting this week," Bellamy said.
"We might even do a little bit in the last game (against the Broncos), but certainly this week.
"We've got a five-day turnaround into our longest trip of the season and the team we're playing has had the bye so we'll be resting a few players.
"Sometimes I don't think that's a real good look for the competition, but we've got to do what we think is right for us and we'll do that."
With his all-star spine hitting their straps against the Dolphins, the Storm producing a season-high 16 line-breaks, Bellamy said he'd like to play them in the final two games but the risk didn't equal the reward.
"You'd probably like to keep it going but there's chances of injury and it's a long trip to Townsville and back and we'll probably be playing in conditions we're not used to.
"We'll obviously play a couple of them - (Cameron) Munster hasn't played a lot this year and Paps (Ryan Papenhuyzen) missed a bit at the start.
"Harry's played a whole heap of footy this year, Hughesy (Jahrome Hughes) has played a whole heap of footy, so my original thought is to rest them, but having said that, they've got to have a say in that as well."
Bellamy praised his team's performance against the Dolphins which delivered their sixth minor premiership in 14 years and their first since 2021.
He said he felt the minor premiership didn't get the recognition it deserved.
"We didn't start too well, to be quite honest, and soaked up a bit of pressure and then we come back from that," Bellamy said.
"The guys did a great job and there was a little bonus there at the end of it with the minor premiership.
"For me it's a pretty big thing, I think the minor premiership is a little bit understated or underrated.
"I'll probably look at it in a real simplistic way in that to be the minor premier you've got to be the best team for the whole year.
"To be the competition winner, you've got to get there obviously, but you've probably only got to be the best team for four weeks.
"Having said that, by Tuesday everyone will have forgot who won the minor premiership and then we just sort of bat on the next couple of games and then hopefully do well in the finals."
