Melbourne Storm know they must be at their best if they are to beat the undefeated Rabbitohs Ryan Hoffman says the clash against the Rabbitohs represents a huge challenge for the Storm. Picture: Walmsley Stuart Source: Herald Sun MONDAY night's performance by Melbourne Storm was good enough to beat Wests Tigers 26-12, but a repeat of the slow-starting, fast-finishing effort won't get it past South Sydney. Veteran forward Ryan Hoffman said Storm still had "much to improve" before Saturday's clash with the Bunnies. Both teams will go into the game unbeaten. Sub-plots abound, with Storm coach Craig Bellamy up against former pupil Michael Maguire and the number of former Melbourne players in the Rabbitohs line-up moving some to call them Storm's B-team. Hoffman said the clash represented a huge challenge Storm had to improve to overcome. "I don't think (Monday night's effort) would beat the Bunnies," Hoffman said yesterday. Recently they have turned into an 80-minute team and quite a strong team defensively, and we can't rely on trying to score three tries in 15 minutes to beat them because it won't happen. Skipper Cameron Smith said early-season victories were important, considering Storm will lose its representative players for NRL games twice this year. In the past the State of Origin period has taken Melbourne's big three for one, and sometimes no games. But this year Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk -- and most likely Hoffman -- will miss games in Rounds 15 and 18 making every win now crucial. Billy Slater charges down the left wing only to be caught by the foot by James Tedesco during the Melbourne Storm vs Wests Tigers match at AAMI Park in Melbourne. Picture: Klein Michael "Knowing if you start well and win the majority of matches before Origin starts, you put yourself in a good position to finish the year," Smith said. There's a Test match after this week, too. We play a couple more rounds, and then the Origin period starts. Hopefully we can still be undefeated. Despite facing a short turnaround before Saturday's blockbuster, Hoffman said Storm's slow start on Monday night after an eight-day break suggested five days between games might be better. "Judging by the way we played after a long turnaround, I think shorter ones are better for us," he said. We are going to have to do what we can because we have a few things to fix. WINGER Matt Duffie's dumping to NSW Cup was made worse when he dislocated a shoulder in the second-tier competition and could be out for seven weeks. Duffie missed the final six games of last season after shoulder surgery. This injury was to his other shoulder but Storm physio Tony Ayoub said Duffie could still need another operation at the end of this season. "He will need surgery at some stage but if we did it now he'd be out for the year," he said. We'll try and rehab him and get him back playing.