Melbourne Storm regains Cameron Munster, Suliasi Vunivalu and Billy Slater for NRL qualifying final

ONE day out from the start of the NRL finals, Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy got the good news he was looking for with three of his key stars cleared to face South Sydney.

Storm star Billy Slater all smiles at training this week. (Will Botoulas)

MELBOURNE Storm has medically cleared Cameron Munster and Suliasi Vunivalu for tonight’s South Sydney showdown.

Club legend Billy Slater will also return after spending last week in north Queensland amid a family health crisis.

Munster and Vunivalu passed respective fitness tests on Thursday.

But the Storm has yet to declare its intentions around the halfback position, opting to keep cards close to its chest until an hour before kick-off.

Storm star Billy Slater all smiles at training this week. (Will Botoulas)

Both Jahrome Hughes, named as the starter, and emerging playmaker Brodie Croft remain in the extended 19-man squad.

It comes after Storm captain Cameron Smith this week identified Croft as the possible front runner.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy kept a poker face when asked about the halfback situation.

Munster’s fitness is big new. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

“Those guys have had a tough job, coming in there and everyone thinks or expects them to be Cooper Cronk which just ain’t practical,” Bellamy said.

“We’ll go with who we think is the right guy for our team.”

Probed further on the horses for courses rotation, Bellamy said: “We’ve been doing it all year, so we’ve had plenty of practice on it”.

Vunivalu could be bad news for Souths. (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett)

Livewires Hughes and Croft could be among three finals debutants for Melbourne, with a further five Storm players having made five or less finals appearances.

Smith (33*) and Slater (29*), in contrast, have combined for 62 NRL finals.

Bellamy hailed the significance of having Slater back in the line-up.

“That’s a lot of finals,” Bellamy said.

“You’d like to think the experience those guys have got playing in big games over a lot of years is going to rub off on them (younger players) and hopefully that will add to our performance.”

No stranger to September, Bellamy has taken the Storm to the finals in 14 of the past 15 seasons.

But the premiership mastermind still gets a “different feeling” in his stomach.

Will Croft get the nod at halfback? (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

“September is when the big games roll around, sometimes your dreams are made and sometimes your dreams are broken, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches,” Bellamy said.

“My mentality, and I think our team’s mentality, is make sure what we’re doing today we do as well as we can and then hopefully that will help us play a good game.

“If we start thinking about what might happen or start thinking about the result, that ain’t going to help no one.”

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