Melbourne Storm director of football Frank Ponissi has revealed he doesn't believed the club have played consistently strong football yet this season.
Coming off a surprise loss to the St George Illawarra Dragons last weekend before climbing back into the winner's circle with a win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs this weekend, the Storm are still on track for the minor premiership, but clash with the Penrith Panthers - their closest rivals in that race - next weekend.
Ponissi, speaking on SEN 1170 said the club are pleased with their ladder spot, but that there was still improvement available over the final weeks of the season ahead of the finals, rating the club a '7.5'.
โObviously our position on the ladder, we're really pleased with,โ Ponissi said on SEN 1170 NRL Crunch Time.
โThe way we've played and won certain games, we've hung into every single game, even the games we've lost, I think from that point of view we'd rate highly.
โBut we probably haven't been consistently at our best, so that would probably keep the score down to a 7.5.
โThe pleasing part about it is when we play the top teams, they've been our best performances.
โWith Thursday night coming along we hope the boys will play at that level again.โ
It's a view shared by plenty of fans, who believe the Storm have overachieved given their on-field form this season.
Coach Craig Bellamy has done a masterful job with his Victorian-based side however, with the club overcoming a long list of injuries to sit with 16 wins from their 20 games to date.
They hold only a two-point competition lead over the Penrith Panthers however, turning next week's game into something of a straight shootout for the minor premiership.
