Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith says being denied the chance to play in last year's finals series is playing no part in their motivation heading into Saturday night's NRL preliminary final.

The Storm take on the Warriors at AAMI Park with the winner to book a grand final berth - Smith's men so close to making up for what was essentially a lost year in 2010 when they were deemed ineligible to collect competition points as part of their punishment for the salary cap scandal.

But Smith said last year's disappointment had not been a discussion point among a largely-new roster of players, with all the focus on creating a new legacy rather than reflecting on the past.

"Last year was disappointing but we all moved on from that last year. This year was a totally new season for the Storm. We had a totally new squad and our motivation was just to play well every week," Smith said on Friday.

"It's really nice to be back involved in finals but our focus is going out and playing well and not making up for not being in the finals last year."

Smith said coach Craig Bellamy had yet to make a decision on the make-up of the team's bench, with centre Maurice Blair and utility Rory Kostjaysyn both battling hamstring complaints.

"I think he's got a fair idea of who his starting 13 will be but I've got no idea who he's going to include on the bench," Smith said.

"Maurice Blair's been training pretty well the last couple of weeks and it looks like his hamstring is coming along nicely so he's a good chance of playing - Rory's still 50-50.

"If you're 50-50, you're going to do everything you possibly can to get a jersey on game day."

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