Craig Bellamy has credited a recent change in attitude from his players for Storm's return to hard work and doing the little things that have been the team's hallmark for several years.
Speaking after Melbourne had dismantled Canberra 36-12 at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon, Bellamy admitted that things got so tough at one point following the revelation of the salary-cap scandal that has engulfed the club that he virtually had to stop coaching his players.
According to Bellamy, with their minds elsewhere because they were not only playing for no points in 2010 but also in many cases unsure of what the future held, he had little choice but to give the players their heads.
That meant that the customary lengthy preparations for games - both in training and off the park in video sessions and meetings - went out the window and the players would basically turn up and play.
But in recent weeks Bellamy has noticed a return to what he believes has made his teams so successful, and it has corresponded with consecutive victories over the second-placed Panthers and Sunday's win over the Raiders who are battling for a spot in the finals.
"The last couple of weeks it's gone back to a little bit more normality, I suppose, in that before that I don't think the players were over-receptive to a few of the processes and systems we've got in place here," Bellamy said.
"I certainly didn't want to be over-coaching them during that time because it's a waste of time for me and a waste of time for them."
"But they're a bit more receptive now to talking about footy and game plans and I think we've seen a little bit of the results of that."
Having had to tread a 'fine line' and 'stop drilling' his players in what's been a difficult time, Bellamy believes the recent independent report completed by Deloitte on behalf of the club's owner News Limited has helped.
"A lot of our focus now is getting on with the future," he added.
"Obviously there were a lot of things going through everyone's minds before that report came out."
"It's out and it's been out for a while now so now we're starting to plan on the future and that's our focus."
"I've said it a heap of times before, we've got an outstanding group of players here, they're not only players but they're an outstanding group of people and they've got a great love for the club and a great care for each other."
"They love playing footy and some of that enjoyment has been taken away from us this year but perhaps a little bit of that is starting to come back because we are looking towards the future instead of worrying about the present or the past."
While plenty of futures are still being sorted out, one player definitely leaving at season's end, Brett Finch, wasn't supposed to play on Sunday after being given a few days off training but then rising star Gareth Widdop injured a thigh at training and Finch was called up.
"We were actually going to give Finchy a rest this week as well, he hasn't trained all week," Bellamy said.
"He's been having a few durries and a few schooners (after) I just told him to have four days off and go and enjoy himself."
"We rang Finchy about 11 o'clock today and asked if he'd be interested in playing and he was very keen to and the rest probably did him the world of good a few days off training."