Christian Welch says the return of Melbourne man mountain Nelson Asofa-Solomona could not have come at a better time as the Storm prepare to host the high-flying Warriors.
The teams clash on the evening of Anzac Day at AAMI Park in Melbourne's biggest home game of the year, with the fixture usually a sell-out.
Last season produced a record 70-10 win for the Storm but with the Warriors currently holding down joint second place the hosts are expecting a much tighter battle, according to skipper Welch.
"We played the Warriors in Christchurch in the pre-season and they're a really tough footy side," Welch told AAP.
"The new coach (Andrew Webster) has come across from Penrith and he's brought a bit of coaching nous so they're really physical and they play really high-percentage (football).
"They're going to be really tough on Tuesday."
Asofa-Solomona hasn't played since suffering a knee injury in the Storm's round-two shock loss to the Bulldogs in early March, with seventh-placed Melbourne producing a mixed bag of results since.
In that match, the 28-year-old Kiwi international used his brute strength to crash over the line for a try, injuring his knee in the process.
Welch said it was good to be able to call on Asofa-Solomona for such a big game, particularly with another big man, Tui Kamikamica, suspended for two weeks after a dangerous-tackle charge in last week's loss to Manly.
Fullback Nick Meaney has overcome concussion symptoms and will also return to the starting line-up.
"We've really missed (Asofa-Solomona's) physicality and aggression the last few weeks," Welch said.
"It's good timing with Tui getting rubbed out for two weeks.
"Nelson is really passionate about the Anzac - he's a proud Kiwi and he really loves going up against the Warriors, the club that represents the country that he's from."
Queensland State of Origin regular Welch said Melbourne's inconsistent form had not been helped by penalties.
They have five players, including vice-captains Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes and Cameron Munsters, inside the top 50 most-penalised players over the opening seven rounds.
"It's been pretty disappointing. We're one of the most-penalised teams in the competition if not the most-penalised team," he said.
"We talk about trying to build pressure and grind teams down and it's really hard to do when you're helping teams out with penalties and marching them down-field."
