Melbourne five-eighth Brett Finch says consistency of performance rather than personnel is the thing his side needs to address in the wake of a disappointing NRL loss to Canberra at the weekend.

The 26-16 loss on Sunday continued Melbourne's recent struggles during State of Origin time - a period in which their star players virtually need traffic lights to monitor their movement in and out of the side.

As well as the obvious problem of losing their best players and coach Craig Bellamy for matches held during Origin camp, the Storm also face the threat of flat performances when their rep players return to club duty after gruelling midweek Origin matches.

But Finch refused to use Origin as an excuse for the loss to Canberra.

He said it was consistency and form away from home the side needed to improve, blaming patchy play rather than fatigue or chopping and changing the side for the defeat.

"More consistency through the 80 minutes is what we've got to work on," Finch said.

"Some patches we played really well, some patches we were down on what we expect.

"Every club wants their players to be playing rep footy and teams like Brisbane - it's been affecting them for 20 years.

"It's not easy, but that's the nature of the beast. Teams have to deal with it."

Finch said the defeat and Storm's ladder placing added to the importance of Saturday's home clash with Newcastle.

He described Melbourne's current position - three points adrift of St George Illawarra, the Bulldogs and Gold Coast - and three points ahead of fifth-placed North Queensland as "no-man's land".

"The last couple of games we've been down on our form away from home, but we're back home and we've got a bye the following week," Finch said.

"We're in no-man's land a bit. We're three points behind the top three teams and three points ahead of the next group.

"We want to stay up there with the leaders so a win's important going into a bye."

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