Brisbane second-row forward Sam Thaiday says the Broncos' best is yet come, with the 31-year-old confident his side can beat the Storm in Melbourne come Friday night.
Brisbane has now won three in a row, with their latest victory against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs showcasing the side's improvement in all aspects of defence, especially their attitude.
The Broncos now play a side that smashed them 48-6 in Round 17, with the Storm embarrassing Brisbane in front of a shocked Suncorp Stadium crowd.
But Thaiday is of the belief that Brisbane are a different side to the one that recorded its worst ever home loss seven weeks ago, and the Australian international believes that the Broncos' best will be enough to turn that result around and stun Melbourne at AAMI Park.
"Each match is about slowly building into what we want to be," Thaiday said.
"We went through a rough patch there where we were trying too hard to improve and the results weren’t coming our way.
"That's in the past and now we're improving in little areas. That's helped our game all around the park.
"If we go down to Melbourne with the right attitude and a focus of getting the little things right, then we can go very close to beating the Storm on their home patch."
Brisbane will need to win to keep their top four hopes alive, but the game is equally important to Melbourne who will need to win to get one step closer to the minor premiership.
It promises to be a cracking contest, with the Broncos defeating the Storm 14-12 at AAMI Park in the corresponding fixture last year.
Brisbane had to make almost 100 more tackles than Melbourne in that match, somehow coming away with the victory after having only 43 per cent of the ball.
It was a defensive masterclass from the Broncos, and Thaiday said Brisbane would need to put in a similar defensive effort on Friday night if they are to come away with the win.
"We're slowly building and taking steps in the right direction. We are trying to improve week to week," he said.
"We have enough strike power in our side to score points, but we just need to make sure we stop tries being score against us. That will win us games.
"We're always trying to up the ante so it's good to be executing.
"We've got some tough games coming up over the next couple of weeks and those matches will put us in good stead heading into the finals.
"All we can do is get better each week. We are doing that and hopefully on Friday night we step up against a side playing some good footy and come away with the win."
