Melbourne assistant coach Jason Ryles says star fullback Billy Slater is a chance to appear in round one, despite suffering a shoulder injury in the Storm's World Club Challenge victory over Leeds on Friday.
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Slater didn't feature in the second half of his side's 38-4 demolition of the Rhinos after "jarring" his left shoulder on the stroke of half-time.
While the Storm did say it was just a precautionary measure to keep Slater out for the remainder of the game, the 34-year-old will go for scans on his injured shoulder later this week.
Off the back of a dream campaign in 2017 for the representative fullback, Slater re-signed for what could be his last season in the NRL in 2018.
"It's nothing serious, but we're just going to double check it anyway," Ryles told Big Sports Breakfast.
"It's the same shoulder but it's a little bit technical, it's a different position he's fallen in as opposed to that rotator cuff injury he did have.
"They're thinking and they're pretty confident he's just jarred the shoulder and he's going to be ok, just to double check it, he'll get a scan later in the week."
"Hopefully everything is okay." - Billy Slater on the injury he picked up. #WCCStormRhinos pic.twitter.com/JDsm6SJFpB
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) February 16, 2018
Ryles said he was also impressed by the form of young halfback Brodie Croft who ably stepped into the number seven jersey, replacing Cooper Cronk.
"Brodie's been here for three years now and he's going into his fourth season, he's basically sat there and watched Cooper's every move for three years," Ryles said.
"His dedication and his commitment to not only his own game but making sure he knows his role in the team is starting to show in the game on the weekend and the games he played last year.
"Whilst he's not Cooper, he's certainly based alot of his game and alot of his preparation on how Cooper does things.
"It's going to take a little bit of time with him, he's obviously had a really good start which we're really happy with and knowing Brodie he'll keep working on the little areas of his game to try and improve."
Melbourne will play the Cowboys in the Cameron Smith-Johnathan Thurston testimonial match on February 23 in their final trial ahead of the NRL season.
The Storm kick off their 2018 campaign by travelling to Perth to face the Bulldogs in their opening game of the season on March 10.
