Melbourne Storm's recent ability to grind out tough, low-scoring NRL wins has heartened coach Craig Bellamy ahead of what he expects to be a similar contest with the Roosters.

With the Storm missing four of their biggest names - Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Dane Nielsen - and Bellamy rating the Roosters' defensive form highly, he said points were unlikely to flow on Monday night.

"Their defence has really picked up in the last three or four weeks," Bellamy said.

"For us, we've got to stay patient, we haven't got our spine there this week.

"So the guys coming in for those guys have just got to make sure we stay patient and persist in doing what we think is going to work."

While the Storm racked up several 30-plus point scores early in the season, they have had to scrap much harder to defeat the Sharks and the Rabbitohs in the past two rounds.

But Bellamy was happy to go down that route.

"A really good sign for us during that period is the last month we've had four really close, tough games and we've won three of them," he said.

"It's a young side, certainly a different side to what we've had in the past, but they're starting to learn to win the tough games.

"... We are hanging in with our defence and playing tough in the tough games, so that's very pleasing."

Bellamy again called for State of Origin games to be stand-alone, to lessen the toll both on clubs losing star players and on the players themselves.

But he was looking forward to seeing how some inexperienced replacements coped with a rare chance.

"They're not as experienced as the players that are not there," he said.

"But at the end of the day they know what their role is and they need to go out and play that the best they can."

Bellamy acknowledged Adam Blair, who will be acting captain in the absence of Smith, was down on form and confidence, but said that was largely due to a lingering ankle injury.

"It caused him some real issues and it blows up after every game. We need to keep a close eye on him at training, to make sure he plays on the weekends," the coach said.

Bellamy also said the Storm were hoping to re-sign former Roosters winger Sisa Waqa, 24, who is on a one-year deal, but has starred in Melbourne's past two matches.

"Without doubt, in the next couple of weeks, we'll certainly look to finalise (a deal for) next year."

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