Ryan Papenhuyzen says Melbourne can't rely on Jahrome Hughes solving their defensive woes when the star halfback returns from injury for their final round clash with Brisbane.
Against the Sydney Roosters on Friday night the Storm turned in their worst second half in Craig Bellamy's 23 seasons and 600 matches at the helm, spoiling his coaching milestone celebrations.
Up 10-10 at halftime at AAMI Park, second-ranked Melbourne gave up 40 unanswered points in the second half.
Gun fullback Papenhuyzen didn't have an explanation for the team's whopping 40 missed tackles and 12 errors, crediting the Roosters for lifting with their finals hopes on the line.
"Making probably too many errors coming out of our end ... that, combined with missing lots of tackles was the perfect combination," the 27-year-old said.
"And they throw in some good footy as well, they just made the most of those chances.
"We're obviously disappointed by the scoreline, but it's just one of those games ... a tough one to swallow."
Papenhuyzen said the second-placed Storm could now only control their response, with his side expected to be back to full strength at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night after resting a number of key players from the Roosters match.
Dally M Medallist Hughes hasn't played since dislocating his shoulder in round 21 but is set to give Melbourne a boost as they look get their form back on track before hosting the fourth-ranked Bulldogs in their qualifying final.
Papenhuyzen said Hughes wouldn't solve all of their problems with the team needing to improve their defensive mindset.
"No, I don't think he's going to come back in and things are going to turn around," he said.
"It's a hard one because every training session we did this week, we did contact, so it's not like we were sort of rested and the bodies were fine.
"We were ripping in at training, and yeah, maybe it was concentration."
Playing both league and rugby union in high-school, Papenhuyzen admitted he has had discussions with the cashed-up breakaway global rugby competition R360.
"Nothing's happening at this stage, I'm sort of obviously here and contracted here," he said, locked in at the Storm until the end of the 2026 season.
"We'll have to see what happens, I can't really say much on it."
He conceded there was some appeal in playing overseas and it would be "silly" not to look at it.
But he said it would be hard to shift from the Storm, where he's played for seven seasons and 110 games after moving to Melbourne in 2017.
"It's nearly been 10 years I've been here, so it's a long time, but you've just got to weigh up all your options every time you come off contract so it would be silly not to look at things."
