Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy is "really confident" star Jahrome Hughes will return for the Storm's preliminary final with red-hot Penrith.
The halfback sat out last week's thrilling semi-final win against the Sydney Roosters with a calf injury.
But Hughes trained at AAMI Park on Thursday before Melbourne fly north for Friday night's clash with the Panthers at Accor Stadium.
"We'll have to see how he pulls up but he got through most of it (the training) so we're really confident he'll be OK," Bellamy said.
"He didn't do all of it but we didn't plan for him to do all of it, either. All of it we planned for him to do he did."
Hughes has been named at No.7 and Melbourne will give him every chance to take on Penrith.
Utility Tyran Wishart filled in admirably for Hughes against the Roosters, scoring the first try of the game and influential in setting up the Storm's match-winning early lead.
Winger Xavier Coates has already been ruled out of the match and was restricted to a gym session as his Storm teammates trained.
Bellamy refused to speculate if Coates would be available should the Storm upset Penrith and qualify for the grand final.
"We'll just worry about this week first, we'll worry about next week next week," he said.
Melbourne will enter the grand final qualifier as heavy underdogs with Penrith trying to become the first NRL club in 40 years to win three-straight premierships.
The roles were reversed two years ago when Penrith pipped the Storm in an epic 2021 preliminary final.
"At the end of the day, I'm a footy coach and not a bookmaker," Bellamy said.
"They can do what they like and people can bet on who they want. That's not my business.
"But probably expect that, Penrith have been the standout side for the last three or four years.
"They've finished minor premiers again this year, so they're obviously a very, very good side."
