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Leeds looking to hit Melbourne on the edges, out wide, rather than get into an arm-wrestle up the middle.

The player to make a mistake and turn over is Adam Cuthbertson. His offloading will be key.

Cam Smith pings a kick, looking for a 40/20 and it just bounces the wrong side of the 20 for the Storm.

Leeds breathe a sigh of relief.

Francis Cummins
Ex-Leeds player & assistant coach, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Leeds started really well in defence and forced an error, but you're not going to get too much field position against Melbourne so to throw the ball away cheaply is not the best thing to do early on.

Some feisty first set tackling from the Rhinos, and it's their fans you can hear.

Melbourne turn the ball over and Joel Moon pounces in midfield and races away...

...as he offloads it's re-gathered by Melbourne and we go back for the scrum head and feed Leeds!

First strains of 'Marching on Together' to greet kick-off.

Leeds thump the ball downfield and Melbourne get the first touch of the ball.

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Ryan Hoffman, no stranger to these games, belts out the Aussie anthem to an enthusiastic crowd.

Pre-match ceremony done. Now it's time for two champions to belt each other for 80 minutes. What an early morning treat!

No 'God Save The Queen' from Matt Parcell and Brett Delaney. Divided loyalties there.

Good rousing effort from Stevie Ward and Jack Ormondroyd though.

Now the Aussies turn.

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Two teams out, lined up and the national anthems are about to kick in.

Plenty of blue and amber to match the purple, and even a Hull FC shirt!

John Parkinson: C'mon Leeds. One-off Rhino fan for 80 mins. Put up a good show for Super League.

This is one of the few days in the rugby league calendar when Super League rivalries seem to be put aside for a while.

Get in touch using #bbcrl on social media.

The players are in the sheds still, although their pats on the backs and handshakes suggest we're about to go shortly.

There is a decent and vocal contingent of Rhinos fans at AAMI Park which could be key as UK crowds tend to be a bit noisier than their NRL counterparts.

Ah, teams emerging. Finally!

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Everyone knows about the threat of Cameron Smith and Billy Slater, but the quality doesn't end there for the Storm.

Up front they've got Jesse and Kenny, the Kiwi Bromwich brothers, while off the bench there's the giant Nelson Asofa-Solomona - another Kiwi unit.

In the backline, rubber-legged winger Suliasi Vunivalu averaged a try per game in 2017, while Cameron Munster - tipped for a while to be Slater's successor - is currently a livewire in the halves who is capable of a score.

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It's not all that long ago that Bradford Bulls were representing Super League in the World Club Challenge.

Serious financial issues saw them slip away from the game's elite and eventually, in January 2017, into liquidation.

Bradford now play in League One - the third tier of domestic rugby league - and were paired with West Wales Raiders in the third round of the Challenge Cup earlier this week.

BBC Sport will stream one match from each of the early rounds of the competition, building up to television coverage in the latter stages of the tournament and culminating in the final at Wembley on 25 August.

Francis Cummins
Ex-Leeds player & assistant coach, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

They're playing arguably the best team in the world in their back yard.

The teams are different from the Grand Finals - they've both lost their respective talismen.

This is a challenge for the Leeds players, and if they want to be the best in the world then they have to go and get a result.

Good morning then, as northern hemisphere takes on southern in this clash of the champions.

Whether you're reading on the bus, listening on the train or sneaking a peek at work, I hope you're ready and pumped for this one.

Kick off is not far away, although knowing Australian TV and the experience of the World Cup, I'll be stunned if we go bang on nine o'clock!

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Melbourne: Slater; Vunivalu, Chambers, Scott, Addo-Carr; Munster, Croft; J Bromwich, C Smith, Glasby, Kaufusi, Hoffman, Finucane.

Replacements: B Smith, Solomona, K Bromwich, Welch.

Leeds: Walker; Briscoe, Watkins, Sutcliffe, Hall; Moon, Myler; Cuthbertson, Parcell, Singleton, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Ward.

Replacements: Dwyer, Delaney, Keinhorst, Ormondroyd.

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Leeds have taken advantage of their week in the Melbourne sunshine to discover and explore, adding life experiences to their footballing education down under.

Skipper Kallum Watkins, Stevie Ward and Ryan Hall popped up on the set of popular soap Neighbours for some filming duties, while players from both sides visited the local zoo.

One different aspect that will affect Leeds on the pitch is the confirmation that there will be two referees as there is in NRL matches, rather than just the one on-field official in Super League.

"We're not happy about this, it's been forced upon us," McDermott added.

"The term used was international rules, and that's refereed by one referee. I don't think the second referee is going to find any cynical or sneaky play from us.

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Listen to BBC Radio 5 live sports extra commentary of the 2018 World Club Challenge by clicking on the audio icon at the top of the page.

It is an online-only commentary, with our team led by BBC rugby league correspondent Dave Woods.

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Melbourne head coach Craig Bellamy has handed Cronk's number seven shirt to Brodie Croft, who has just five first-grade appearances to his name but scored a hat-trick against Newcastle Knights last season as evidence of his talent.

The 20-year-old will have the support of skipper Cameron Smith and full-back Billy Slater - both World Cup winners with Australia and who form the spine of the Storm side - to help him through the game.

Leeds will be hunting him out, Stevie Ward, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Carl Ablett will have their sights set on unsettling the youngster.

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It wasn't all tears of joy for Melbourne as, much like Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow at Leeds, there was a poignant farewell in 2017 to a long-serving favourite.

Kangaroos stand-off Cooper Cronk ended 15 years with the Victorian club to join Sydney Roosters and be closer to now-wife Tara.

During his time at the Storm, the playmaker won the Dally M medal twice, two Grand Finals and a World Club Challenge. He ended his international career last autumn as well, having secured back-to-back World Cup wins.

His exit brought to an end the Billy Slater-Cooper Cronk-Cameron Smith axis... though Slater and Smith will be part of this morning's game.

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The elite. The best of the best. That was Melbourne Storm during the 2017 National Rugby League season.

Just four defeats in 24 regular-season matches, they edged past Parramatta before cruising beyond Wayne Bennett's Brisbane Broncos to reach the grand final - where 2015 premiers North Queensland Cowboys were trounced convincingly.

It bodes ominously...

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Leeds have a different look about them to the one that won the Super League Grand Final in October.

Long-serving Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow both made their final appearances for the club at Old Trafford, but the Rhinos still have plenty of top performers to call upon.

New captain Kallum Watkins - whose first WCC against Storm in 2010 came as a winger - is one of the best centres in the world on his day, forward Jamie Jones-Buchanan is appearing in a record-equalling seventh World Club Challenge, while winger Ryan Hall is making his 350th career appearance.