The Melbourne Storm are set to play in their 10th preliminary final in 11 seasons on Friday when they host the Sydney Roosters at AAMI Park.
Whilst the city may be gripped by AFL Grand Final fever, the sold out signs have been put up as 30,000 fans will be flocking to the Storm's fortress, with many hoping to see the Storm qualify for a first Grand Final since 2020.
It is by far the biggest home crowd the Storm will play in front of this season, but Craig Bellamy thinks it could add another layer to an already intriguing finals match.
And being the good master coach he is, preparations have been made to deal with the unique atmosphere.
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Bellamy and Storm using speakers to mimic preliminary final atmosphere
Speaking to media ahead of the preliminary final, Bellamy admitted he had used speakers in training this week that were playing crowd noise to help mimic what could be a cauldron like atmosphere at the tightly packed AAMI Park.
He says this was done because it is not something the Storm players encounter all the time at home, and he wants to cover all the bases.
"There's gonna be a fair few people here and they're gonna be fairly noisy, we're not used to that playing in front of 30,000 people," he said.
"We just need to make sure that we're aware of that [and] adapt to the conditions [and] that situation."
The only time the Storm have played in a crowd above 30,000 this season was during Magic Round in Brisbane, where over 47,000 watched them put the Parramatta Eels to the sword, and in the final round of the regular season, when they thrashed the Broncos at the same stadium in front of 35,086 people.
The crowd for the regular season clash between Melbourne and the Roosters at AAMI Park saw 17,055 fans watch the Storm secure a 24-8 victory.
Their crowd for their qualifying final win over the Cronulla Sharks was their highest of the home season, as 26,326 were in attendance to watch them comfortably win 37-10 to book an important week off.
Despite not playing a competitive match, Bellamy ensured the side had a hit out in training against a semi-professional side to get some players up to speed and to ensure the sharpness was still there for Friday's match.
That said, he still ensured there was enough time off for his side to get through the week off unscathed.
"[We gave] them a couple days off, and they came back nice and fresh," Bellamy said.
