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Former skipper Cameron Smith says the Storm no longer chase the minor premiership, with their eye firmly on being at their best through the NRL finals.

Former captain Cameron Smith says a shift in mindset by coach Craig Bellamy helped Melbourne secure the 2020 NRL premiership and is likely in play again this season.

The retired superstar said that the Storm's focus on winning the minor premiership in previous seasons had come at the expense of their performance in the finals series.

But after reviews of their preliminary final loss in 2019 after finishing on top of the ladder, and also 2018 when they pushed for the minor premiership but lost the grand final, they changed their approach.

Smith said last year they timed their run to the grand final, being content to finish second on the ladder and were happy to rest players in the final round against the Dragons.

On the back of that they charged through the finals and beat minor premiers Penrith in the grand final.

"The first and only time that happened for me was last year," Smith told SEN radio when asked about timing their run.

"We learned that lesson from 2018 when we lost the premiership to the Roosters and followed up the next year when we lost in the prelim.

"If there was an opportunity to win the minor premiership, he (Bellamy) went after it - there was no resting players, there was no thinking, 'If we drop this game, it's OK because we're getting ready for the big one'.

"It wasn't until after those seasons when we reviewed it and we said, 'What do we play for?' You're there to win a premiership."

Smith said Bellamy and the club recognised that to win the title they really only need to be best team in the last four weeks of the season.

While the Storm are on top of the ladder after losing only two of 20 matches, the ex-hooker feels Bellamy is adopting the same approach this season so the Storm will be primed to go back to back.