Stand-in Melbourne skipper Adam Blair says if the Roosters want to target rookie halfback Rory Kostjasyn in their NRL clash they'll be in for a long night.

Kostjasyn has been named to wear the No.7 jersey for their Monday night meeting at AAMI Park, stepping in for regular halfback Cooper Cronk who is on State of Origin duty with Queensland.

Cronk's usual back-up, Luke Kelly, is still battling a groin injury and under-20s halfback Ben Hampton has a broken leg.

Blair will steer the Storm ship with regular captain Cameron Smith, as well as Billy Slater and Dane Nielsen, also on Maroons representative duty.

Kostjasyn, 23, has only played seven NRL games since joining the Storm in 2010, featuring in his second for the season last Sunday, and none at halfback.

His preferred positions are hooker, five-eighth and lock.

Kostjasyn, who spent some time with the Roosters but didn't make an NRL debut with the Sydney club, said he was looking forward to the opportunity.

"Any chance I get to play first grade at the moment, I'll seize," he said.

"It doesn't matter where I play, I'll be looking to get involved as much as possible."

While there was some conjecture about whether Kostjasyn would actually start at halfback, Blair believed if he did he would be up to the challenge.

"Rory's a great defender so if they want to target him they might be in for a long night," Blair said.

"He's a great player, he's trained there during the week so he's not going to be shy at what he does."

Blair said Melbourne was in a better position to cover for their absent Origin stars than in the past as the replacement players all had plenty of NRL experience.

"We don't have as many younger boys in the team who haven't played a first grade game so we're going to give ourselves a chance," he said.

The New Zealand international, who is tipped to join Wests Tigers next season, said he wanted to inspire his side with his own performance, which he believed had been below his best.

"The way I lead is by my actions, I try to put my best foot forward and hopefully the younger boys follow me," he said.

Coach Craig Bellamy wasn't happy with the performance of his side at training, but Blair felt they had plenty of time to get the timing and combinations right.

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