Melbourne's steely stars bluntly refused coach Craig Bellamy's offer to do a lap of honour with their prize for the NRL minor premiership on Sunday, fearing it would distract them from their bid for the major title.

The Storm were presented with the JJ Giltinan Shield amidst loud boos that drowned out NRL boss David Gallop at AAMI Park before downing Newcastle 18-8 to be one game away from a grand final appearance.

The No.1 finish and the march towards another decider represent a stunning turnaround for the club, which was stripped of the 2007 and 2009 premierships and all points in 2010 in the aftermath of the infamous salary cap scandal.

"The big shield's sitting up there in the middle of our dressing room so everyone's really proud of it," Bellamy said.

"I said to the players, 'Do you want to take it around the field at the end of the game?'

"But they thought that was probably not the right thing to do.

"We don't want to look like we're particularly celebrating it but we will be tonight as a group."

Captain Cameron Smith said celebrating on Sunday would have been no help in the Storm's campaign for the main prize.

"That was last week, we won that," he said.

"I know circumstances meant we had to get presented the shield today but when it was announced last week that we were minor premiers we acknowledged that then and put it behind us.

"It's not going to help us move forward in this competition walking round with the JJ Giltinan Shield.

"We all know it's a huge achievement for our team and this club to win that but our focus is past the minor premiership now."

Bellamy said the Storm would savour finishing first on Sunday night before the players had a couple of days off.

"We'll certainly be doing something on the weekend, they won't be having the weekend off, I've already told them that," he said.

Melbourne earned a week off with the tradesman-like win over the Knights and will play the winner of Friday night's semi-final between the Wests Tigers and Warriors at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The Knights joined North Queensland in bowing out, head coach Rick Stone at the helm for the last time before becoming an assistant to Wayne Bennett and veteran centre Adam MacDougall beginning his retirement.

Knights captain Kurt Gidley said Melbourne would be a real threat for the premiership.

"It was 12 straight they won, that's an amazing feat and they're a great team, they work hard for each other, great coach, so they'll be hard to beat," he said.

It will be Darren Lockyer versus Wayne Bennett when Brisbane will host St George Illawarra in the other semi-final next Saturday, the winner to meet Manly the following week.

The NRL set a record for crowds in week one of the finals, 123,391 attending the four games to beat the previous record of 104,457 set in 2006.

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