Melbourne Storm winger Josh Addo-Carr says captain Cameron Smith will return against Cronulla Sharks on Thursday night.

Smith missed the Storm's 40-12 win over Newcastle Knights due to fatigue after playing in State of Origin last Wednesday night.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy said he was hopeful Smith would be fit to face the Sharks and Addo-Carr has no doubts his skipper will get himself up with two clubs sitting in first and second spots.

The Sharks have won three of their last four games against the Storm, including last year's grand final and an 11-2 loss in heavy rain on April 9.

"Smithy played State of Origin and he would have made 50 tackles in that game so he just sat down and had a rest," Addo-Carr said.

"So I think he is going to pull up sweet for this week."

The two clubs boast strong defences and Addo-Carr expects points will be hard to get on Thursday night.

"It's going to be a big challenge for our defence this week and our completions as well," Addo-Carr said.

"We have lacked in our completions in the last couple of weeks, we just need to tackle harder and run harder than them this week."

Both the Sharks and Storm have multiple State of Origin players with Wade Graham, James Maloney and Andrew Fifita all playing for NSW while Smith, Cooper Cronk and Will Chambers played for Queensland.

Both fullbacks are in the running for Queensland call ups with Sharks No. 1 Valentine Holmes and Storm's Billy Slater rated as chances to come into the Maroons backline for game two.

This could add to the encounter on Thursday night but Addo-Carr said the Storm would be more concerned with completing sets and getting playmakers like Cronk free to create tries.

"They just made it hard for our halves to play last time," Addo-Carr said.

"They are not far behind us, it will be a big challenge and we need to step up to the plate."

The Storm play the Sharks in Sydney on Thursday at 7.50pm.