Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Felise Kafusi are two names many will be unfamiliar with, yet if the compliments of Storm teammate and Kiwi International Tohu Harris are anything to go by then it won't be long until you see them ripping up in the NRL.
Melbourne could have been reeling from the loss of experienced trio Ryan Hoffman, George Rose and Bryan Norrie this season but instead Harris believes the young crop at the club will do just as good a job.
"All the younger players at the club have trained really well. It's exciting to see the competition we have within the squad because we are going to have to rely on them a lot," Harris told NRL.com.
"The way they have been training and playing through the pre-season games, they are looking really promising and have fitted into our system really well and doing all the little things right.
"In terms of their size and the way they get around the field, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Felise Kaufusi are a real big chance of playing in Round 1 and it'll be exciting to see them get out there and show what they can do.
"I think Craig [Bellamy] sees there have been a lot of good signs from the rookies. The thing about Craig is he looks for effort and the little things from us and I think he's comfortable with what everyone, not just the rookies, have been doing."
While the future Storm stars look promising, Harris couldn't deny that the experience lost in Hoffman and Norrie will be huge voids to fill.
Calling on fellow teammates Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor to lift alongside him, Harris said the fortunes of the Storm's forward pack in 2015 will be dependent on the trio's form – especially when it comes to the club's defensive structures.
"We are all another year older and it does put the onus on us to lead the way in the forward pack with Noz and Hoff gone," Harris said.
"We need to also set the example for the younger guys coming through and show what they have to do to be successful in this competition.
"The Storm has always been a proud defensive team and we felt we let ourselves down with inconsistencies in defence last season so we have done a lot of work to get it back to what it once was.
"As long as we keep buying into training, it'll go a long way to helping us."
