They allowed themselves a small opportunity to bask in their NRL minor premiership success, but Melbourne captain Cameron Smith is adamant the Storm's job is far from done in 2012.

"You look at that title, it's the minor premiership - it's very minor now," Smith said.

"It's nice to have that accolade but the major prize is being in the grand final and having a chance of winning that."

Melbourne's course towards a grand final triumph starts with Sunday's qualifying final against Newcastle at AAMI Park, a match most experts expect them to win in a canter.

It would provide a fitting setting for post-match celebrations, when NRL chief executive David Gallop will make his first trip down to Melbourne in over a year to present the JJ Giltinan Shield.

His last visit to a Storm clash in May 2010 created quite a kerfuffle, with fans selling `FCUK Gallop' t-shirts outside the ground in protest at the NRL's heavy-handed punishment over the club's rorting of the salary cap.

Asked what kind of reception he was anticipating on Sunday, Gallop said:

"I'll expect there'll be a few noisy people but I think their performance this year actually underlines why they couldn't play for points last year and the vast majority of fans recognise that."

While Gallop's presence may steal some of the attention on Sunday afternoon, Smith said it would not detract from well-earned celebrations.

Happy with the way his side has bounced back after last year's turmoil, Smith denied the club had undergone a complete transformation.

"We haven't done too many things different to what we've done since we joined the place," Smith said.

"It's always been a successful culture, the culture's about doing the best for your teammates and trying to help out everyone that's involved with the club ... it's no surprise that we've done well.

"There were a lot of doubters at the start of the year that wrote us off and said it was going to be a long time before we get back on our feet, but it shows the quality of the people in the place that what we've achieved this year is quite outstanding I think."

Meanwhile stand-in five-eighth Maurice Blair says he's only a 50-50 chance of taking on the Knights.

Blair, named at five-eighth as the replacement for regular No.6 Gareth Widdop, damaged his hamstring in the Storm's final round loss to Sydney Roosters.

"It's coming along pretty good, it's still 50-50 at the moment," Blair said on Friday.

"I'm in the team and we've got one more training session tomorrow so we've got to get through that.

"It's improving every day."

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