WCC spots up for grabs in Storm warm-up
Melbourne won't go to Leeds wondering.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy expects his players to stake their claim to a World Club Challenge berth against the Rhinos when they take on London side Harlequins in a warm-up match on Sunday (Monday AEDT).
"We don't want to be um-ing and ah-ing this time next week about who's going to be playing in the team against Leeds," Bellamy said.
"We want to pretty much know after this game, so hopefully that will all be pretty clear for us."
Bellamy plans to start 20-year-old back-rower Kevin Proctor and former Parramatta lock Todd Lowrie in the London game.
The match is also an opportunity for the coach to settle on a solution to the absence of injured halfback Cooper Cronk ahead of the February 28 WCC at Elland Road.
Last year's under 20s halfback, Luke Kelly, is likely to have an opportunity to press his case against Harlequins.
Test Hooker Cameron Smith won't play, having arrived in Britain late after last weekend's All Stars game, but he is an option for the No.7 jersey against Leeds, with Ryan Hinchcliffe a candidate at rake.
Centre Greg Inglis, who is slowly progressing in his recovery from a hip injury, will only feature in the first match if he is "very close to 100 per cent" and even then he unlikely to play for long, Bellamy said.
Front-rower Jeff Lima's hamstring string strain has improved and he is expected to play a half.
Adam Blair won't play on account of his All Stars participation as Bellamy saves he and Smith for the encounter with the Super League champions.
Fellow late arrival Billy Slater will undergo a fitness assessment on the ankle injury that kept him out of action last weekend.
"The big point of Sunday is getting some of these guys a bit of time on the field to get a bit of match fitness up and just to get a bit of combination," Bellamy said.
Harlequins head coach Brian McDermott will also have the chance to experiment.
"The players are really looking forward to pitting themselves against the best and it's great for our club to be able to put on events like this," McDermott said.
"We still have a few players out through injury so will be able to play some people out of position and try a few different things.
"If it doesn't come off and we get burned, we won't lose any league points. Saying that though, we won't be taking anything lightly."
The Storm squad had a look at The Stoop during training this week.
"The dressing rooms are really small," Bellamy told Storm TV.
"It's like a boutique-type oval I suppose.
"I think they've got a union game there on Saturday, so the ground might be a little bit chopped up.
"It's been quite wet over here so it will be interesting to see the condition of the ground on Sunday, but it looked ok."
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