Melbourne are ready to launch Operation Stop Tom as they attempt to do what no-one else has against Manly's fullback on Saturday night.
The Storm received good news at training on Friday, with star halfback Jahrome Hughes getting through unscathed.
Hughes had not trained for most of the week as he battled a calf injury, but he is now expected to play at Suncorp Stadium assuming he pulls up well on Saturday morning.
Beyond him though, much of the focus at Storm training this week has been on Tom Trbojevic.
The Manly No.1 has put on arguably the greatest individual season in memory, setting up 22 tries and scoring 18 in 11 games for Manly this year.
This leaves Melbourne and coach Craig Bellamy with the same question as every other team this year: How do they stop him?
"I've got a shotgun in my room, so I'm going to get one of the guys to take that out tomorrow night," Bellamy quipped.
"But no, I'm not quite sure how you would describe his home at the moment but his game last week (against Cronulla) was off the planet really.
"We're not going to throw our hands up in the air and say: 'I hope he doesn't play too good tomorrow'.
"We've obviously got a plan on how we might be to blunt a bit of his effectiveness.
If there is one thing the Storm and Bellamy do well, it's shut down red-hot players.
In Cameron Smith's recently published autobiography, he spoke of the focus the Storm put on stopping Jarryd Hayne and Ben Barba in the 2009 grand finals.
The pair enjoyed the only seasons that could compare to Trbojevic's current one, but had little to no impact in their deciders against the Storm.
More recently, they were able to do the job on Brian To'o and Nathan Cleary in last year's grand final.
To'o averaged 166 metres per match before last year's grand final, but the Storm's kicking game reduced him to a season-low 108 when it mattered most.
And Cleary was again the victim of being pressured by Christian Welch, as the Storm's pack stopped him setting up a try or linebreak.
A similarly successful tactic now stands between the Storm and a 17th straight win.
"We're not quite at that stage yet (of grand finals) ... But we've certainly put some thought into our training sessions this week about Tommy without a doubt.
"We're not going to shut him down completely for the whole game, but there's a couple things we think we can do.
"And a couple of mentalities about us being on our game in certain situations and you know being really aware of where he is and what he does in those situations."
Australian Associated Press
