Melbourne Storm's State of Origin reps ready for well-earned bye Storm and Queensland captain Cameron Smith celebrates the Maroons' series win with Billy Slater. BATTERED, bruised but with a clean bill of health. That is the diagnosis for Melbourne Storm's State of Origin representatives following Wednesday night's pulsating decider at ANZ Stadium. Ladder leader South Sydney's premiership chances have suffered a big blow with star Greg Inglis to miss up to two months after injuring his knee in Game 3. The news is much better for Storm, with skipper Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Ryan Hoffman getting through unscathed. Storm and Queensland fullback Billy Slater tries to evade the NSW defence. "Obviously they are all very sore as it was a tough, physical game," Storm football manager Frank Ponissi said. But in terms of injuries, there are none at all so we are lucky there. While grateful there are no more names to add to their burgeoning injury list, the club is conscious of how much the series has taken out of its star quartet. Slater confirmed as much after helping Queensland to its eighth straight series win, labelling the frenzied final minutes the "toughest" of his illustrious career. "That last 10 minutes, from the nine-minute mark when they (NSW) scored that try to the five-minute mark when we got the penalty, is probably the toughest four minutes of any football that I've played," Slater said. Cooper Cronk sticks out a fend on Wednesday night. Storm teammate Ryan Hoffman is at left. It will come as no surprise to Storm coach Craig Bellamy, who last week said Origin was taking more out of his players every year. "The build-ups are just getting bigger and bigger because you have so much riding on the game," Ponissi said. It has become a lot closer and tighter, so that adds up. Storm has the bye this weekend, giving its Origin players a week to recuperate. They will rejoin their teammates for Storm's clash against the Warriors in New Zealand next Sunday. "They don't come back until next Thursday," Ponissi said. We still are in a way disappointed our bye is after the Origin, but it may be a blessing in disguise. For those four players to have backed up and played this weekend would have been an enormous ask. The Origin decider was the highest rating rugby league game of all time with 4.232 million Australian viewers tuning in. In Melbourne there was a record average audience of 464,000, peaking at 576,000.