While they missed Sia Soliola's presence, Canberra Raiders captain Jarrod Croker says the silver lining to his suspension was Shannon Boyd and Junior Paulo taking the lead.
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Soliola is the spiritual leader of the Green Machine and will return from his five-match ban against the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne on Saturday.
The 31-year-old was not only missed in the middle, having played most of this season at lock or prop, but also his more than 250 senior games of experience across the NRL and Super League.
He returns for his 150th NRL appearance, where he'll come up against Billy Slater for the first time since his high shot knocked the Storm fullback out to earn him his enforced holiday.
But while Soliola was watching from the stands, Croker said it allowed both Boyd (24) and Paulo (23) to develop their leadership.
It might be a coincidence, but Boyd stepped up over the last five weeks and started to find the form that earned him a Kangaroos call up for last year's Four Nations, while Paulo's been the best Raiders prop all season.
The pair are two of the biggest big boppers in the NRL and in the form they've shown over the closing rounds of the season they can dominate any pack in the competition.
They'll be crucial to Canberra's chances against a Storm pack that boasts Jesse Bromwich, Jordan McLean and man mountain Nelson Asofa-Solomona as the 10th-placed Raiders look to finish the season on a high.
Croker said it felt like Soliola's suspension had gone quickly, but admitted that probably wasn't the case for Soliola himself.
He said Soliola was raring to go, but he wasn't expecting the Storm players to target Soliola, saying they were far too professional a side to worry about that - a sentiment echoed by Storm centre Will Chambers.
"[We've missed] that tough, aggressive attitude in the middle, and we have had it, we've been good, but it's probably given guys like Junior and Boydy more responsibility as leaders without having Sia there," Croker said.
"I think they've benefited from that massively. Obviously having Sia back, he's full of talk, he's full of energy and the boys all listen to him so it's great to have him there."
The Storm go into the final round with the minor premiership wrapped up, but coach Craig Bellamy has named a full-strength side to face the Green Machine.
It will also be something of a send off for their star halfback Cooper Cronk, who will play his final regular season game in Melbourne before he packs his bags to move to Sydney for love at the end of the season.
While finals await the Storm, it will be the Raiders' last game of the 2017 campaign having already been ruled out of making the top eight.
It will also be their last trip to Melbourne since the Storm knocked them out in a nail-biting preliminary final last season.
Croker said there was no tougher trip in the NRL and that's why he was confident his teammates would be up for the game and looking to "knock them off".
"We're coming up against the best side in the competition. They're obviously the favourites to win comp and deservedly so," he said.
"We enjoy playing against Melbourne, they're the benchmark, and we've spoken about that all week. There should be no reason not to be excited about playing them.
"There's not [a tougher trip], but it makes it even better to go down there and knock them off."
NRL ROUND 26
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm in Melbourne, 7.30pm. Live on Fox League.
Raiders: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Blake Austin, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Junior Paulo, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Shannon Boyd, 11. Josh Papalii, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Sia Soliola. Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste, 15. Joe Tapine, 16. Dave Taylor, 17. Luke Bateman. Reserves: 18. Jeff Lima, 19. Clay Priest, 20. Royce Hunt, 21. Michael Oldfield.
Storm: 1. Billy Slater, 2. Suliasi Vunivalu, 3. Will Chambers, 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Josh Addo-Carr, 6. Cameron Munster, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Jesse Bromwich , 9. Cameron Smith (c), 10. Jordan McLean, 11. Felise Kaufusi, 12. Tohu Harris , 13. Dale Finucane. Interchange: 14. Kenny Bromwich , 15. Tim Glasby, 16. Nelson Asofa Solomona, 17. Slade Griffin. Reserves: 18. Robbie Rochow, 19. Joe Stimson, 20. Young Tonumaipea, 21. Nate Myles.
