Tohu Harris knows the Raiders pose a massive threat to the Storm on Monday night, and has warned teammates that anything less than an 80-minute performance will not be good enough.
Melbourne and Canberra are both currently enjoying six-game winning streaks, with the Raiders arguably the most in-form team in the competition after knocking off the Sharks last Saturday.
Harris admits a trip to GIO Stadium is never an easy one, but says it will be even harder this time around given the Raiders' recent performances.
"It's going to be a tough challenge. They're a physical side all over the field and they're in some good form, they've got a lot of dangerous players so we're going to have to do a lot better [than last week] and be on our game to match what they've got," Harris said.
"I think they enjoy playing at home, they grow an extra leg with the crowd they've got some real passionate support there, so that's always a challenge with the travel and the conditions but it's the same every year and we've got to prepare as well as we can for it and turn up with the right attitude.
"We've always known that they're a dangerous side, they can score a lot of points and if you turn off or switch off for that one second they can make you pay, especially with some dangerous players out wide, so you're going to have to play a full 80 minutes to keep them in check."
The Storm scraped past the Rabbitohs on Saturday night in golden point courtesy of a Cameron Smith field goal, but coach Craig Bellamy was visibly displeased with his team's performance – and rightly so according to Harris.
"He was a little bit [upset], just more with our defence and some certain efforts in different areas, but we were disappointed as well," Harris said.
"We knew we didn't play as well as we have during the year, but I think it shows a little bit of character to pull out a win like that and hopefully we can build on the back of that."
Melbourne sit on top of the NRL Telstra Premiership ladder with just four rounds to go and they could be forgiven for talking about minor premierships, but that's not the Storm way.
No talk of minor premierships or even top-two or top-four spots are being heard around the club, with Harris saying that as soon as their attention wavers they'll become vulnerable.
"We're just taking it one week at a time, and if we start looking past the Raiders they're a team that can blow you off the field, so we're not looking past Canberra at this point," he said.
