“They’ll be pretty angry with the result”: Utoikamanu expects Dragons to come out firing

After a demolition of the Parramatta Eels in Round 1, the Melbourne Storm are heading into Round 2 full of confidence, but the same cannot be said for their opponents.

The St George Illawarra Dragons went down to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in golden point, but will be out to make amends and secure their first win of the season.

Speaking to the media, Storm forward Stefano Utoikamanu acknowledged that the loss could make the Dragons an even tougher opponent this week, but insisted there would be no changes to the Storm's preperations.

"They'll be pretty angry with the result in Round 1," Utoikamanu conceded.

"I know they're gonna come out firing and we're gonna prepare the same way we do all the time.

"(We will) have a look what we need to look at as a ruck and as edges and go into the game with our game plan."

Fellow Storm forward Joe Chan reaffirmed Utoikamanu's beliefs when asked on what he was expecting from the Dragons this weekend.

"(A) tough performance," he put bluntly.

"There's no team in the comp that we think less of, so we just hope to stick to our game plan like we've done before and hopefully we get the results we need."

The Dragons will be hoping history can repeat itself when they host them this weekend.

The sides met in March last year, where the Red V shocked the Storm at Jubliee, coming away with a gritty 14-8 win in terrible conditions.