KEY POINTS:
The Melbourne Storm have blown into Auckland for tomorrow's clash with the Warriors with the controversy of their spiteful win over St George last week still swirling about them.
The Warriors will be hoping the Storm have taken their eye off the ball as they traded verbal jousts with St George over the sending off of Jason Ryles and the suspension of Billy Slater for fighting.
The destructive Slater successfully had his charge for contrary conduct downgraded _ but will still miss tomorrow's match _ after arguing that the Dragons' Kiwis winger Jason Nightingale had provoked him with a headbutt during an all-in brawl.
That claim incensed Nightingale, who denied head-butting and countered that Slater had committed a "dog act", only attacking him because he was already being held by two players.
Dragons coach Nathan Brown also lobbed a verbal Molotov cocktail into an already incendiary environment, telling a Melbourne newspaper he would instruct his players to exact violent revenge the next time they met a Melbourne team that continued to employ illegal wrestling techniques.
"It should be open slather, an eye for an eye," Brown said. "I just pray we get another go at them. The people in charge should make it a free-for-all.
"If [the Storm] want to use the grapple and hit all the other pressure points, that's fine. But if they get whacked, they shouldn't whinge. I'll be telling my boys to give them a whack.
"If they go down, I'll be telling them to whack them again when they get up."
Meanwhile the Warriors have been quietly going about the business of plotting an upset victory that would put them firmly back in playoff contention.
"It is a good time to play them," said Warriors coach Ivan Cleary, whose side is riding a three-match winning streak.
"There is a little bit more confidence around the place and we have nothing to lose really.
"We certainly feel that we are going a lot better than we were a month or so ago and I still feel like our best performances are in front of us. It is not a bad spot to be in."
Sharks coach Ricky Stuart was another to put the boot into the Storm this week over their alleged grappling techniques but Cleary stopped short of jumping on the bandwagon. He said only that grapples to the head continued to be policed by referees but other techniques for slowing the play-the-ball down were still being employed.
"We will have to make sure we are good in that area because they will be."
The absence of the in-form Slater, who scored a hat-trick in the Storm's first round victory over the Warriors, is a bonus for Cleary's side. But they will still have to deal with rejuvenated teenage sensation Israel Folau.
"I'll admit I did drop off a bit after the Origin series," Folau said. "I felt a little bit flat during that period but I think now I'm back to [how] I should be playing and helping the team out."
Folau's aerial prowess was again on display in the drubbing of the Dragons but he isn't always so comfortable getting off the ground.
"I've always been a little bit scared of heights," he admitted.
"The other day we did rock climbing at a recovery session. I didn't do too much rock climbing. I was pretty scared."
Between the lines, though, Folau has no issues with gravity.
"It is very hard to out-jump him, that is for sure," Cleary said.
"Probably the best way to combat that is through all parts of your game, try to reduce they amount of time they are down there.
"But if they are trying to score points off going to the air that will mean our defence is going pretty well.
"We've just got to get people around the ball and combat that as best we can."
Steve Turner is favourite to replace Slater at fullback, although Storm coach Craig Bellamy won't lack for classy alternatives.
"[Slater] is just one of many great players," Cleary said. "It is certainly not going to hurt us [that he is out] but they are a great side all round.
"All I know is that we have to play really well. It is a good day to be judged and see how we are going," he said.
