The Melbourne Storm have been a picture of consistency in the NRL for as long as Craig Bellamy has been at the helm.
Through various periods of transformation, plenty of calls that they were about to sink and a host of other issues, the last time Melbourne missed the finals for non salary cap related reasons was 2002 - also the last time Bellamy wasn't the coach of the men in purple.
So much have we come to expect of the Storm that 2024 saw the club widely regarded to be well short of their best, despite the fact they made a preliminary final.
There were certainly some big question marks throughout the course of last season, mostly around their forwards and leadership, but certainly issues in the spine weren't completely non-existent.
Some of those same questions lay in front of the Melbourne-based club heading into 2024.
Here are the five big ones.
3. Have the Storm got enough depth in the forwards?
This is a question that lingered over the Storm throughout most of the 2023 season, and was ultimately why they ended up struggling in the finals series.
Their forward pack simply didn't match the quality of other top teams, although is still leaps and bounds ahead of teams at the wrong end of the table.
That hardly came as a surprise after the Storm lost Jesse Bromwich, Kenneath Bromwich, Felise Kaufusi and Brandon Smith at the same time ahead of the 2023 season.
That is an enormous amount of experience to head out the exit gate at the same time, although the club wouldn't change their decision for a moment. Melbourne have staunchly refused to overpay for forwards throughout their existence, and it's something that has made them a success.
What they didn't have in 2023 though was the experience and depth to run with other sides, despite the quality of Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Tui Kamikamica and Christian Welch, who didn't have his best season.
There was also the small issue of rocks and diamonds on the edges from Trent Loiero and Eliesa Katoa.
Shawn Blore is an excellent pick up in that department, while Jack Howarth and Joe Chan will also be snapping for first-grade minutes this year.
The middle third has the same issue as last year, but as younger players in the squad continue to develop, it should become less of a problem for the Victorian-based outfit.
