Melbourne's NRL premiership threat has been laid bare, with data showing their star-studded first-choice spine have only ever lost one game when all starting together.
Cameron Munster will return to Melbourne's No.6 jersey for the first time in two-and-a-half months on Saturday night against St George Illawarra at AAMI Park.
The Storm are holding their fingers crossed that his return to starting will give them the perfect base to launch their premiership assault, with an uninterrupted run to the finals for their spine.
At their best, the Storm's core group of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant make up the most dangerous spine in the NRL.
But it has been remarkably rare that all four players have been on deck to start at the same time.
Despite all being at the Storm since 2019 and holding the status as the NRL's best spine, the quartet have started together only 12 times previously.
Papenhuyzen's injury woes, Munster's latest stint out and Harry Grant's loan-year at the Tigers have all contributed to that.
The numbers also spell a cautionary tale for Melbourne's premiership rivals.
Of the 12 matches that Munster, Papenhuyzen, Hughes and Grant have started together, Melbourne won 11.
And the sole loss came when Papenhuyzen was injured after 20 minutes and did not return.
On average, the Storm have scored 34 points per game when starting the quartet, and conceded just 15.
It's one of the reasons why Melbourne should be considered as genuine title heavyweights, sitting four points clear at the top of the ladder despite their run of injuries.
"It's a luxury and it's on us to take advantage of that," Grant said.
"Now it's on us to try and take our game to the next level, having Munny (munster) back in there.
"We can't miss out on opportunities week to week. We've got just a period of time now and a little block to build into finals.
"That's our mindset with Mun coming back into the team and hopefully we can fast track it."
Munster is, however, somewhat wary.
The five-eighth has cast his mind back to 2021, when the Storm were flying with Nicho Hynes at fullback, before losing some of their attacking groove when Papenhuyzen returned from injury.
And he fears a repeat now that he is taking back the No.6 jersey from Tyran Wishart.
"The way Wishy (Wishart) has been playing. I didn't really want to go out there and ruin that cohesion," Munster said.
"We had that situation in 2021 when Paps got injured, and Nicho (Hynes) come in and played some really good footy.
"And then Paps come back and we lost our cohesion and combinations.
"I just don't want to do that again to the boys,. It was pretty regretful year, 2021. It still haunts myself to this day."
MELBOURNE'S RARE MATCHES STARTING THEIR STAR SPINE
2022:
Round 2: beat South Sydney 15-14
Round 5: beat Canberra 30-16
Round 6: beat Cronulla 34-18
Round 7: beat Warriors 70-10
Round 8: beat Newcastle 50-2
Round 9: beat St George Illawarra: 42-6
Round 18: lost to Canberra 20-16
2024:
Round 5: beat Brisbane 34-32
Round 6: beat Canterbury 16-14
Round 7: beat Sydney Roosters 18-12
Round 8: beat South Sydney 54-20
Round 9: beat Gold Coast 22-20
