Cronk won’t get caught up in emotion: Slater

Melbourne Storm legend Billy Slater spoke to Big League about Cooper Cronk's approach to this weekend's preliminary final and doesn't think his former teammate will be focused on the emotion of it being his potentially last game in the NRL.

The Roosters halfback has already announced that he will retire at the end of the season and will hope to extend his career by one more week with a win over the Storm, where he spent 14 years.

“I’m sure he’s not approaching it as his last game,” said Slater.

“I don’t think there’ll be a whole heap made about Cooper playing the Storm again because there’s so much more at stake for both teams.

“They’re in amazing form and they’ve hit their straps at the right time. Melbourne played the best that they’ve played all year against Parramatta, so wow, I think this will be a grand final come a week early.”

After two clashes in the regular season, both sides came away with a win and both are in great form now.

The Roosters started the finals with a 30-6 thrashing of the Rabbitohs while Melbourne initially lost to Canberra before a 32-0 shutout over the Eels.

“When you finish in the top four, you’ve got to win three games in a row to lift the trophy. The Storm got the advantage of not performing to their best in the first week but still having the chance to win three and hold that premiership up,” Slater said.

“They bounced back against Parramatta to book their spot in a preliminary final but they’ll face a Roosters side who had the chance to freshen up after the week off. They’ll have a full tank of gas to call upon and they know who they’ve got so they can prepare as well as anyone because they’ve had double the time.”