The times they are a-changin' for Melbourne Storm Cameron Smith and his Melbourne Storm teammates have endured a torrid early season schedule. TONIGHT Melbourne Storm ticks the final box in what has been a helter-skelter start to the season involving matches in every possible timeslot, plus a trip to England. The 6.30pm start time for the clash with Penrith takes to seven the number of different days and times Melbourne has played through the opening nine weeks of the season, a long way removed from the club's pre-season fixture request. Most NRL teams have played on the same time and day at least four times this season. Breaks between games for Melbourne have varied between five and 12 days, with the first six played across just 33 days, while the last three matches have stretched across 30. Storm chief executive Ron Gauci conceded such irregularity in matches was hurting the club commercially, despite a significant rise in home attendances, which have averaged nearly 18,000 this year. "And imagine what it could be if we played more Friday and Saturday games, which is what we stated as our preference in our fixturing requests," Gauci said. Our fans are frustrated with the inconsistency. It has also presented on-field challenges, the football department working overtime to construct different training and rest schedules each week. Despite a 7-1 start to the season, Melbourne hasn't, according to captain Cameron Smith, played an "80-minute game" yet and recent statistics support his theory that too often Storm has been chasing its tail. In three of the past four games Storm was behind for longer than it was in front, leading for just 15 minutes against the Wests Tigers in Round 5, and just 18 in the come-from-behind win over the Warriors on Anzac Day. Bellamy and his coaching staff have searched for answers to Storm's slow starts after long breaks. Despite the moveable feast, the coach said such circumstances shouldn't be used as an excuse for ordinary performances. There hasn't been any consistency but I don't see that as an excuse. We really had no excuse for a flat performance last week," he said. We played some really good footy in the last 20 minutes. But we only started playing when we got in to a bit of trouble. Storm football manager Frank Ponissi conceded it wasn't ideal but said: "It's how you handle it that separates you from the rest. And I would say the vast majority of clubs are in the same position, except a couple who get more regularity. But we pride ourselves on not looking for excuses. One of Craig's big philosophies is to adapt, like we do on the field. If the crowd and the weather and the referees are against you, the easy thing to do would be to complain and make a noise about it but it won't get you a victory. We adapt to what's in front of us.