Having watched Brisbane bash St George Illawarra into submission last weekend, Melbourne are expecting more of the same in Saturday night's NRL preliminary final at Etihad Stadium.

Storm prop Brett White said the Broncos had set a new benchmark in physicality in their 24-10 win over the Dragons.

"They were the most aggressive side I've seen all year, led by Ashton Sims," White said after training on Wednesday.

"All season I haven't seen a team play that aggressively.

"We certainly know they're prepared for finals football and they're playing finals football at the moment.

"That will be their plan, to come down here and try and bash us up, especially early on and no doubt they will be looking for the shots to go my way and the other front-rowers' and lead on from there."

No stranger himself to the physical approach, White said it was all about being prepared.

"I don't think it's so much about being aggressive back, you've got to be smart about it as well," he said.

"At the start of the game it's a physical contest and then it becomes a mental contest.

"It's a game of two sides and we'll wait and see who wins the physical side and who wins the mental one."

Melbourne has surged to premiership favouritism in the last fortnight, with White saying much of the credit must go to the lesser names in the Storm squad.

"If you look at that first week (against Manly), the blokes that led the way were Ryan Tandy and Aiden Tolman and they haven't got a lot of finals experience," said White.

"No doubt it will be the same again on Saturday night.

"We know full well that they can handle those games and they can certainly get up for them, having that gives everyone confidence.

"And then the excitement they bring is an added bonus."

Another of the Storm's representative stars, Ryan Hoffman, is thrilled to be on the park at this time of year, having missed most of the 2008 playoffs with an ankle injury.

He doesn't think the Broncos are at a disadvantage, having played a gruelling match last Sunday while the Storm had the week off.

"You get used to the bumps and bruises throughout the year so I'm sure they're going to come out with the same sort of attitude that worked for them against the Dragons," he said.

"They showed their intentions nice and early and they really bashed the Dragons out of it.

"If they want to come out and do the same thing to us we'll be ready for it and looking forward to it."

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