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.
4. Can Munster and Hughes get back to their best?
Related, although indirectly, to the last point, is the fact the Melbourne halves - both on enormous money - didn't have their best seasons, particularly when the whips were cracking in September.
Hughes in particular struggled for control in the number seven jumper, with his kicking game appearing rushed at times.
Munster, on the other hand, still had plenty of flashes of brilliance, but the longer the season went on, the less consistent they became, until he and Hughes were all but reduced to passenger roles during their two heavy finals defeats, first at the hands of the Broncos, and then the Panthers on preliminary final weekend.
Their performances are very much linked to that of the forwards though. As the old saying goes, if the forwards aren't competitive, the halves may as well stay in the dressing room.
It wasn't that bad for the Storm, but it certainly wasn't ideal. However, Hughes and Munster have had the ability to drag their teams onto the front foot over the years even if the forwards weren't dominating.
That smooth and silky touch simply wasn't evident at the back-end of 2023, and they will need to quickly rediscover it if the club are going to be competitive at the pointy end of 2024.
