The Canberra Raiders are planning to pull off an AAMI Park ambush for an NRL-best fourth straight time and move further away from the wooden spoon.
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The Raiders have had the edge over the Melbourne Storm at their past three meetings in the Victorian capital and return on Saturday night.
It will be the first time the Raiders (5-11) have faced the Storm since back-rower Kevin Proctor verbally agreed to move to Canberra next year before re-signing with Melbourne.
The Raiders go in as underdogs with the bookmakers, but were also written off before their victories on the past three trips south. They are the only visiting team in the NRL to leave AAMI Park with the two competition points each time over that period, an amazing statistic given they missed the finals in two of those three years.
The Raiders are hoping they have restarted their season thanks to last weekend's 36-20 victory against the Gold Coast Titans, which featured a brilliant performance from fullback Anthony Milford.
Lock Shaun Fensom, who will play his 100th NRL game, hopes the side continues its momentum.
"We've not got a bad track record down there against the Storm and enjoy playing down there, so it's going to be a good game,'' Fensom said.
"We've been working on our attack a lot and it comes down to completing our sets. We completed above 80 per cent [of sets], which is a goal for us, and we can show what we can do when we hold on to the ball.''
The Raiders ended a seven-game losing streak with a 20-12 victory in 2011. That was followed by a 40-12 thumping in 2012 and a 24-20 win last year.
The eighth-placed Storm (8-8) is desperate to get its season back on track after the distraction of having five players – Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Ryan Hoffman and Will Chambers – involved in the State of Origin series.
Storm forward Ryan Hinchcliffe expects their attack to be better than it was in last week's 6-4 loss to the Bulldogs.
''We played well for the majority of that game, but probably lacked a little bit of polish at times and couldn’t come up with the points when we needed it,'' Hinchcliffe said.
''I thought our defence was really strong and we need to bring that same attitude again. We need to make AAMI Park an uncomfortable place to play for opposition teams.''
The contest between Milford and Storm star Slater will be worth the price of admission alone. Milford's touch pass to Jarrod Croker against the Titans was one of the plays of the season.
''They're two of the best fullbacks in the game – one up and coming and one who has been there for the last 12 or 13 years,'' Hinchcliffe said. “[Slater]'s a very competitive guy and does his best for our team. I’m sure he’ll enjoy the challenge of it.''
Prop Brett White returns to the starting team for the Raiders, while centre Matt Allwood travels as 18th man.
