Veteran prop Christian Welch says minor premiers Melbourne have earned the right to rest players in the remaining two rounds, dismissing concerns about the impact on the finals make-up.
The Storm will leave skipper Harry Grant, star halfback Jahrome Hughes and goal-kicking centre Nick Meaney off the plane to Townsville for Thursday night's clash with North Queensland, among a host of changes.
With top spot locked away by last round's victory over the Dolphins, coach Craig Bellamy has also flagged resting players for their last-round match against the Broncos in Brisbane.
There are currently five teams in the battle for the eighth spot, including the Broncos, who dependent on results this week could be given a saloon passage into the finals if Melbourne field an under-strength line-up.
But former captain Welch felt that wasn't the Storm's problem.
"It's a tough one because I think you've earned the right," said Welch, who will be in the squad to face the sixth-placed Cowboys.
"We're not too worried about other teams jostling for those finals positions, we're trying to put ourselves in the best position to win a premiership, and I think every team would probably do the same.
"We've done a great job, we've locked up top spot, so we've got the ability to rest some players, freshen some guys up."
Welch felt that as Melbourne were on a five-day turnaround and facing their longest travel of the year meant criticism about resting players wasn't really fair.
With the regular season of the AFL concluding last weekend the competition has one week's break before finals.
But Welch didn't want the NRL to follow that path as he felt it didn't sufficiently reward the best-performed teams.
While in the NRL week-one winners from the top four teams then get a week off, in the AFL all sides have a week to freshen up.
"The AFL have it, but it's materially changed their final series," the 30-year-old said.
"If you look at that pre-finals bye, and you look at the Western Bulldogs' famous run in 2016 ... would they be able to do that if they didn't have a week to regenerate and go on a four or five week run - I don't think so.
"The pre-finals bye in AFL has been around for long enough now you can actually see the evidence there that it is materially taking away the benefit of finishing top four and winning that week one of finals."
Melbourne are set to give debuts to two players against North Queensland but Welch said the Storm would still field a formidable side.
"There's some really exciting stories there for some young guys who will get an opportunity and rewards for some younger guys who have been fantastic all year.
"We're definitely going up there to win."
