Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy says he's excited by the prospects of his Storm side, who crushed Canberra to chalk up their third straight NRL victory.

With scintillating fullback Billy Slater starring with two tries to seal his Queensland Origin jersey, the Storm outclassed the Raiders 46-6 at Olympic Park.

Bellamy said after the match he had talked to Slater about taking a "different mentality" into the game, although he wouldn't elaborate further.

A bemused Slater however said he couldn't recall talking to his coach.

"I didn't have too much of a conversation with Bellyache, maybe he's just trying to take a bit of credit there," he joked.

Regardless of the communication breakdown there the Storm are finally playing like a team.

Skipper Cameron Smith said after the eight tries to one romp that the side had stopped trying to play like the successful Storm of old, and was now playing to the current line-up's strengths.

Bellamy agreed, saying he didn't know how far the 2009 team could go.

"I'm still not quite sure what this team's capable of ... it's an exciting time for us," the coach said.

"It's a bit of a new team so I think everyone's a little bit refreshed ... Brett Finch coming in has added a little bit to us so perhaps we're capable of a little bit more than we were earlier in the season."

Slater paid credit to his teammates for his devastating performance, after struggling early in the season which gave Brisbane's Karmichael Hunt an opportunity to push his case to wear the Maroons No.1 jersey.

"I've probably been a bit like the team, I've been building," Slater said.

"I've had things to work on but when the team goes good it's a lot easier for an individual to play well.

"I can only work off the good plays of the forwards and dummy half runners.

"I think with the new faces in the squad, and players coming back from the World Cup it's taken a bit of time for everyone to gel together."

Halfback Cooper Cronk was another star against the Raiders, setting up two tries from kicks as his combination with new five-eighth Brett Finch continued to blossom.

While Slater sung his praises, he was realistic about Cronk breaking into the Queensland Origin line-up with North Queensland's Johnathan Thurston and Gold Coast's Scott Prince in career-best form.

"Cooper's a great player and it just so happens we have so many great halves for Queensland to pick from.

"If he got thrown a Maroon jersey he would do it proud and certainly wouldn't look out of place but there's a lot of good halves in that squad."

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