It's only under cross-examination, if he is being completely honest, he admits he has never felt a great deal of confidence surrounding a trip to Melbourne to face the Storm. Not until now at least.

Off the back of six straight wins, including the scalps of heavyweights Sydney Roosters and South Sydney, the in-form Knights backrower claims the side heads to AAMI Park with a real expectation of returning home with the two competition points.

"Definitely, the confidence is really high and there is now an expectation there off the back of what we have done so far. I'll be really disappointed if we don't get the win," Barnett told the Newcastle Herald.

"They are still a real yardstick for mine. When you've got Cameron Smith in your team, Cameron Munster and then the forward pack - Jesse Bromwich, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Felise Kaufusi and Dale Finucane - they are a world class side.

"It's a big challenge for us this week. But going down this year compared to other years, I think we have the side to give it a real shot if we do what we have done for the last six weeks."

Barnett said the win over Souths in particular, only reinforced the growing belief within the side about the strength of the Newcastle forward pack despite suggestions the Knights have benefited at times from rival teams having key players missing.

"A win's a win in the NRL - we'll take them," he said. "You can look at it that we got a few teams at a good time but last week, Souths had a full forward pack in and I thought we handled them pretty comfortably but we have moved on from them.

"Melbourne have just as good if not better forwards than Souths so we are going to have to do an even better job and put in for the 80 minutes to get the result we want. They are a big pack, a physical pack and very skillful too with Smith and Finucane and Christian Welsh comes on off the bench and does a really good job. I really like Brandon Smith as a player as well. I know he is naturally a hooker but he still does a really good job for them."

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Barnett has no doubts where the game will be won or lost.

"They have all types of body sizes and shapes and their mentality will be to come straight through us," he said.

"We have to stand up and be aggressive and get in their face and really match them in the middle and that's where we'll win it. We are expecting them to be right up for it. We're not going to sneak up on them.

"I think over the last six weeks, we have probably been the two form sides of the comp. It's a really big test and one that we won't shy away from. We're really looking forward to going down there and really making a statement."