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The Melbourne Storm believe they may have unearthed a new Billy Slater as Ryan Papenhuyzen begins to make his mark for the NRL minor premiers.

Retired superstar fullback Billy Slater was always going to be difficult to replace but Melbourne feel they may have uncovered a new model in Ryan Papenhuyzen, who has the potential to be just as good.

Storm skipper Cameron Smith said Papenhuyzen has already "put fear" into their opponents, and the best is yet to come.

Papenhuyzen will have his third successive start at fullback in the Storm's final-round clash with North Queensland at AAMI Park on Friday night.

Impressing in each outing, Smith likened the 21-year-old to a young Slater.

"He's quite similar to Bill in his early years - a lot of speed, and he's quite raw with the way he plays, which is great for him and great for our club.

"I've seen some of the stats that he's had from the games he's played as the starting fullback and they're pretty phenomenal - his tackle breaks, line breaks and metres gained for us - they're big numbers and he hasn't had a poor game when he's started in the No.1 jersey so hopefully he can continue that for the rest of the season."

On the back of those numbers the Storm haven't been working hard to build some combinations and plays to get Papenhuyzen more involved.

"The more time Ryan touches the footy the more dangerous he is and the more dangerous our football side is," Smith said.

"When he gets the ball in his hands he puts a lot of fear into the opposition.

"The more he can touch the ball, the better off we'll be."

As minor premiers Melbourne will be presented with the JJ Giltinan Shield after the game and Smith said it was important to put in another strong showing.

After thumping Manly last round in what Smith described as one of their best performances of the season, the Storm don't want to lose momentum against the 12th-placed Cowboys.

"The Cowboys come to Melbourne with really nothing to lose," Smith said.

"They will be looking to get one final scalp before their season is finished and they certainly have the team to do that if they play well and we don't turn up with the right attitude.

"It was one of our better performances for the year last week and I think it's really important that we go out and build on that against the Cowboys and make sure we're taking a lot of momentum into the finals."

Stats that matter

* Melbourne could become the first team since St George's undefeated season of 1959 to go through an entire season without losing a game by five points or more.

* If Melbourne concede less than three tries it will be just their second time conceding less than 50 in the regular season (47 in 2007) - Parramatta is the other team to do so in the NRL era in 1999.

* The Cowboys make the fewest linebreaks, bust the fewest tackles and make the second fewest metres, only ahead of the Titans.