The Melbourne Storm marched their way to first on the NRL ladder Thursday night, crushing the Brisbane Broncos 22-2.
Their dominant win came without the likes of 2024 Dally M winner Jahrome Hughes, as well as star centre Jack Howarth.
Hughes has been sidelined with a shoulder injury and is currently rushing to get fit before finals.
Meanwhile, Howarth suffered a groin injury in the lead-up to Thursday's clash with the Broncos.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy gave an update on the club's current injury status, most notably on his star halfback.
“I don't think we're any wiser than we were last week,” he said of Hughes' return date.
“He seems to be coming on pretty well, and the physios are happy with the way he's coming on, so hopefully we'll get him back sooner rather than later.”
Bellamy admitted that he would like to get one more regular season game out of Hughes before finals footy, hoping not to throw him in the deep end after a lengthy sideline stint.
“I'd just love to see him play a game before the finals, to be quite honest, so we'll just see how that goes,” Bellamy conceded.
“We've got four weeks before the finals now, so we'll just see what happens.”
Bellamy also confirmed that Howarth is expected to miss multiple weeks with his groin injury.
The Storm will be hoping to have both men fit and firing in time for finals, where they're expected to make a deep run.
