ZPA - Melbourne Storm will be looking to the skies in Auckland but it's nothing to do with volcanic ash.

The Storm made it to New Zealand on Friday to prepare for their Sunday NRL clash despite several airlines cancelling the route due to the ash cloud problem.

But it's an aerial assault from the Warriors that's the only thing the Storm are concerned with after the New Zealand-based team used similar tactics to claim an 18-14 upset win in Melbourne earlier this season.

"They scored a few tries off kicks in that game so that's an area that we've certainly improved since then," said Storm coach Craig Bellamy.

"I'm sure that's where they'll be looking to go again.

"Just before halftime they probably steam-rolled us a bit through the middle as well but we improved that in the second half, so that's a couple of things we'll be looking at."

Bellamy admitted the Warriors were a troublesome outfit for the table-topping Storm.

"There's always a bogey team for every team and they seem to be ours."

Storm prop Bryan Norrie has withdrawn from the side after suffering a few head-knocks while centre Justin O'Neill has been ruled out with a strained side muscle, suffered in the gym.

While the Storm's defence was credited for their tight last round win over Wests Tigers, it's been a problem area for the Warriors, who are on a three-match losing streak.

They have leaked a combined 56 points against the Tigers and North Queensland in the past two rounds, with most of those coming in the final quarter of each match.

They have identified their failure to play out the 80 minutes as a major contributor to their run of losses.

"We have to keep playing for 80 minutes, which we haven't done for the last couple of weeks," said second rower Feleti Mateo.

"Play for 80 minutes and not have any lapses. If we win ugly, we'll take it."

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