No rest for Melbourne Storm superstars

MELBOURNE coach Craig Bellamy wants to rest his "big three" over the Origin period, but a mounting injury toll is ruining his plans.

INJURIES will force Melbourne Storm to continue using their Origin stars through an upcoming gruelling period of travel and tough games.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy still wants to give the likes of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk some rest during the Origin period over the next month, but an injury list that refuses to shorten is keeping them on the field.

The Storm face one of the toughest trips in the NRL this week when they cross the Tasman to play the Warriors in Auckland on Sunday without several players Bellamy was banking on.

He had hoped Sika Manu and Kevin Proctor would both be available this week but their recovery from ankle and calf injuries respectively has taken longer than first thought, while Bryan Norrie is also out for at least another week.

New forward Michael Greenfield injured his neck when he was knocked out in a clash of heads in last week's win over Brisbane and will also be out of action this weekend.

"We've got a few injuries at the moment. Hopefully a couple of those guys will be back in the next couple of weeks,'' Bellamy told reporters.

"If they are, it will give us a chance to rest a couple of blokes.''

Smith, Slater and Cronk all backed up two days after Queensland's State of Origin win over NSW last week to help Melbourne convincingly beat Brisbane, who rested three of their Origin players.

Sitting six points clear on top of the table, the Storm follow Sunday's clash against the Warriors with matches against Wests Tigers, Manly and Canterbury, while there are still two more Origin games to come in the next month.

Bellamy was pleased with the way the Storm entered the tough representative period last week against Brisbane.

"We got off to a good start last Friday night. We've got some really tough games coming up, it will really test us,'' Bellamy said.

The Warriors in Auckland present one of the toughest tests, especially with their habit of troubling the Storm, most notably in last year's shock preliminary final win.

And they pushed Melbourne on Anzac Day this year, before the Storm ran in three tries in the last 10 minutes to shake off the Warriors for a 32-14 win.

"They're obviously a big, strong physical side and when they hang on to the footy they're a hard side to handle for anyone,'' Bellamy said.

"They've got some really skilful players and big guys who can offload.''