MELBOURNE Storm will be out to continue its unbeaten start to the NRL season come this Saturday night at Carrington Park, but skipper Cameron Smith is by no means under-estimating his Penrith rivals.
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While the Storm have downed Brisbane and Canberra in consecutive weeks by double-figure margins, the Panthers fell to Parramatta in round one then scrapped home 16-14 against Newcastle.
It means Storm will hold favouritism for the match at Bathurst, but Smith knows his side need to better maintain their intensity to avoid falling to the Panthers.
"It's been a trend in the first two games where we have started well but we just haven't been able to go on with our starts," he said.
"We need to build on the work we do early.
"Off the back of round one they [Penrith] would have been disappointed with that result, so no doubt they'll be looking to turn things around.
"We need to have a look at what we have done well in the first two rounds but there are scenarios we still have improvement in."
One area Smith has been pleased with is the performance of winger Suliasi Vunivalu. He scored three tries in the space of 30 minutes against the Raiders - the fifth hat-trick of his career - while he has broken 11 tackles and made 246 metres so far this season.
"I have been really pleased with his form in the first two rounds, but it's no surprise given I saw the work he put in during the pre-season so he's playing with a lot of confidence at the moment," he said.
Kick-off in Saturday's match is 7.35pm.
