Melbourne have stormed their way to a home semi-final, thrashing the Warriors 30-0 in Auckland on Saturday night.

The six-try-to-nil blitz sends out a clear warning to the other seven finalists that Melbourne, who will finish the season in fourth place, are again serious title contenders.

In front of 14,734 diehard Warriors fans at Mt Smart Stadium, Melbourne rained on Stacey Jones' 261st and final NRL game for the Kiwi side.

The crowd turned up to give their legendary halfback a fitting farewell but had to sit and watch as Melbourne methodically took the Warriors apart.

Melbourne's key players Greg Inglis and Billy Slater both scored for the Storm while centre Will Chambers went over for a double.

The win secures the Storm a home semi-final in the first week of the playoffs, while the Warriors are wallowing in 14th place, securing their title as the biggest disappointment of the season.

Melbourne dominated the first 10 minutes, keeping the Warriors pinned inside their 20-metre line.

But to the Warriors credit, they weathered the Storm battering.

An arm wrestle ensued for the next 10 minutes before the old firm of halfback Cooper Cronk combined with fullback Slater to put Melbourne on the board.

Cronk put in a deft chip kick on the last tackles and Johnny-on-the-spot Slater gathered the chip to score next to the posts.

Cameron Smith added the extras to give the Storm a 6-0 lead at the 23rd minute.

Chambers put Melbourne further ahead 10 minutes later when he made a 15-metre dash for the line, giving the visitors a 12-nil lead at halftime.

Their smooth run continued into the second half when star centre Inglis skirted out of dummy half and took giant strides for 50 metres to lay one down in the 46th minute.

Poor blind side defence by the Warriors saw Chambers waltz over the line for his second try eight minutes later.

Dane Nielsen scored the Storm's fifth try followed by another from Ryan Hinchcliffe after the Warriors defence opened like the red sea.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy said he was proud of the way his boys performed.

"The defence was good, the attack was good, they were really patient with the footy so I was really happy with the performance," he told journalists.

He said making the finals was an impressive result after their high injury count and Inglis's two-week club suspension following an assault charge.

"I think it's been a really good effort for us to get to fourth and these guys are the ones that have created the opportunity," Bellamy said.

"Hopefully we can take it with both hands on Friday night."

Smith admitted it was good to have Inglis back on the field.

"He had a couple of hard weeks there ... but he's got a new lease on his football so he's playing with a lot of energy and he's bringing a lot of energy to our side which always helps."

Smith said it was always tough to win in Auckland let alone when the Kiwis were sending off one of their legends.

"The most pleasing part of our game tonight was keeping a side that was willing to throw the ball around to zero and to grind out a win, which we haven't done too many times this year."

He praised Jones as a "great competitor and a true gentleman for the game".

The Little General himself said there was both relief and sadness in putting his league career behind him, and he was happy to "wipe this last game out" of his memory.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said he felt they had given it everything but "were outclassed on the night".

"You could see signs in that second half that whilst they kept fighting they were looking forward to the final hooter and getting this year over and done with," Cleary said.

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