The Melbourne Storm could lock up a minor premiership against the Canberra Raiders this weekend.
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But Bega export Dale Finucane said it wasn't the driving force behind his efforts - with his eyes more keenly focused on a week-to-week performance in pursuit of the grand final win.
"It's a very boring cliche, but we're taking it one week at a time," Finucane told a media scrum ahead of the clash with Canberra.
"The minor premiership is important and there is a lot of work that goes into that - it's an accolade for the best side from round one to 25," he said.
"But it's not something that drives me personally."
He said coach Craig Bellamy had been instrumental in helping the Storm drill down a week-to-week presence on the field and not letting the team get ahead of themselves.
The vice-captain also praised his coaches' efforts to give each member of the team a well-defined roll that game them a task and something to aspire to.
Finucane said the Storm had faced some tough opposition in their last few rounds with a gritty win over South Sydney last weekend leading into a top-three clash with the Raiders on Saturday.
"It's been a tough run home for us," Finucane said. "But I think you want to be playing these style games in to the back end of the year."
Asked if he would skip any of the remaining rounds to freshen up after his Origin debut earlier in the year, Finucane said he felt solid and would keep hitting the deck each week.
"I don't think i'll take any games off, my body is feeling pretty good," he said.
"Having played just the games and 40-45 minutes in each I think I'm fairing better than some of those 80 minute guys."
He expects a good contest against the Raiders with the third-ranked team to provide an excellent gauge of the Storm's current performance.
"South Sydney were a good gauge and this week will be as well, I think we'll take a look at a few of the things we did well from that Souths game and try implement that against the Raiders."
Finucane told the scrum things could always be done better and the Storm would not rest on their laurels.
"We've been strong defensively throughout the year, but I think there is always room for improvement, there are definitely ways we could refine our attack."
The forward has also firmed up his post-football career finishing off a bachelor degree of health and movement.
"The diploma part is an 8-or-10 week block at school, so i'll be doing that post career. It's something to look forward to after football," he said.