The defensive display from Xavier Coates to help Melbourne secure their opening round win over Penrith comes as no surprise to Will Warbrick, who says his fellow winger has been leading the Storm charge.
Coates has long been known for his speed and strength in attack and his aerial ability.
But there have been question marks over the 23-year-old's defence.
Two massive tackles late in the match by Coates in the space of a minute - the last dislodging the ball from second-rower Liam Martin - kept the Panthers scoreless for Melbourne to bank an 8-0 win.
"He's probably had one of the best pre-seasons that a player can have at this club," Warbrick said of Coates.
"I've seen the work he's put into his game, obviously the high balls and what-not but, defensively, he's put a lot of work into it with his reads and his physicality.
"To see it coming off in a pretty crucial time of the game, it's pretty inspiring for myself and also the rest of the team."
Warbrick, who had a breakout season last year after his move across from Sevens where he won an Olympic silver medal with New Zealand, said he worked together with Coates to improve their games.
"I'm the same boat, I had a few things I needed to work on and defence was one of them so we made a point of working on it together," the 26-year-old said.
"It's probably not just the wingers but our edge as the statistics showed that we weren't great in the area so we definitely had a focus on rebuilding that and I think it showed on the weekend."
Heading into Saturday night's home clash with the Warriors, Melbourne vice-captain Jahrome Hughes said the team needed a repeat of their defensive effort and to lift their completion rate which was only 68 per cent.
The Storm will again be without star playmaker Cameron Munster, who continues to battle a groin issue, with youngster Jonah Pezet wearing No.6.
"We were happy with our defence and our scramble to be able to keep such a good team like Penrith to zero points," Hughes said.
"It's good to do it one week but we need to be consistent with that as that's something we weren't very good with last year so we're going to focus on that."
