Back rower Elijah Taylor was named on the interchange bench, coming in for Ukuma Ta'ai, who was used as a starting second rower in last Friday night's dramatic semifinal victory against the Tigers. Ta'ai provides greater physicality than Taylor but struggled in the opening exchanges and was dragged after only 23 minutes.
Taylor has played 19 games this season and is a tireless worker who averages 32 tackles a game. He has been described as a Micheal Luck but with greater ball-playing ability - and at 21 has a bright future with the club.
The Storm finished the regular season 10 points ahead of the Warriors after 19 wins in their 24 matches.
But two of their five losses came in the last two rounds before the finals, and they started their playoffs campaign with a grinding 18-8 victory against eighth-ranked Newcastle to advance to week three of the finals.
"They've been the best side across the whole season, coming back really impressively from what they went through last year," Cleary said.
"Once again they're the benchmark. They've got three of the best players in the game and you always know you have to work so hard just to compete with them.
"We were up against it facing the Tigers last week, and the challenge will be that much greater this week."
Working against them will be the fatigue factor. Not only has it been a long season, but they will once again take to the road after trips to Brisbane and Sydney in the past fortnight.
They have played only once at home in the past six weeks.
In contrast, Melbourne had last weekend off and centre Maurice Blair (hamstring) is their only injury concern. They possess three of the game's best players in Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Copper Cronk and are seeking retribution after last season was wiped out following their salary-cap breach.
Coach Craig Bellamy has rebuilt the side after being forced to offload a number of high-profile players and, in typical Bellamy fashion, they were the most miserly team in the regular season.
Cleary will feel he has won a small victory ahead of the game, with Matt Cecchin and Tony Archer due to referee the match. The normally mild-mannered Cleary voiced his displeasure at the officiating of both Shayne Hayne and Jared Maxwell over the previous two weekends. Hayne and Maxwell will take charge of Friday's Manly and Brisbane game instead.
It will be a big weekend for New Zealand league. The Junior Warriors will play the curtain-raiser on Saturday night when they take on the Bulldogs for a place in their second grand final in as many years.
The Auckland Vulcans, who boast a number of fringe Warriors players, will also be aiming to reach their first grand final when they face the Cronulla Sharks in their New South Wales Cup preliminary final at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday.
Melbourne, 9.45pm Saturday
STORM
Billy Slater
Matt Duffie
Dane Nielsen
Beau Champion
Anthony Quinn
Gareth Widdop
Cooper Cronk
Jesse Bromwich
Cameron Smith (c)
Bryan Norrie
Kevin Proctor
Sika Manu
Todd Lowrie
WARRIORS
Kevin Locke
Bill Tupou
Lewis Brown
Krisnan Inu
Manu Vatuvei
James Maloney
Shaun Johnson
Sam Rapira
Aaron Heremaia
Jacob Lillyman
Feleti Mateo
S. Mannering (c)
Micheal Luck
Storm: Ryan Hinchcliffe, Rory Kostjasyn, Adam Woolnough, Jaiman Lowe.
Warriors: Lance Hohaia, Russell Packer, Ben Matulino, Elijah Taylor, Steve Rapira.
