The 2019 season could be Jahrome Hughes’ time to shine in the Melbourne Storm No.1 jersey.

The 24-year-old did not disappoint during his time at fullback this year, with Melbourne winning all five games with the young star at the helm.

After an impressive debut for Melbourne Storm in Round 12 following Billy Slater’s hamstring injury, coach Craig Bellamy couldn’t cut the young gun from the team, slotting him into the halves when Slater returned.

Now that Slater has retired, the hungry playmaker is in line to take up his spot in the No.1 jersey, but not without a fight.

Melbourne five-eighth Scott Drinkwater is another strong contender for the fullback jersey — as is 24-year-old Cameron Munster.

Young gun centre Curtis Scott believes that both Hughes and Drinkwater will step up to the plate and work hard to fill the fullback position come the start of the 2019 season.

“It’s a great opportunity for Jahrome Hughes and Scott Drinkwater — they’re coming through, so I think them boys are going to be working really hard for that No.1 jersey”, Scott told foxsports.com.au.

When asked if the team was starting to take shape, Scott said that the main focus of the pre-season so far has been getting fit for 2019.

“I’m not too sure yet, there’s Jahrome Hughes and Scott Drinkwater there but at the moment we haven’t been doing any team specific stuff — we’ve just been doing a lot of running and a lot of conditioning to get us fit for the coming season.”

Munster also shouldn’t be ruled out — having a tackle efficiency of 81.6 per cent for the 2018 season.

Munster has slotted into the fullback position on a few occasions when Slater had suffered season-ending injuries — however, it was when he stepped into the halves that he excelled, this year winning the Dally M five-eighth of the year.

With three capable playmakers able to fill Slater’s shoes, and with Cameron Smith still not having re-signed, Melbourne’s spine looks unsteady.

Smith remains unsigned for the 2019 season, but Scott has high hopes that the skipper will return to captain Melbourne next season.

“He’s in no rush at the moment, but he’s earnt his time off — he’ll be back hopefully after Christmas — we’re hoping anyway.”

Although there’s chaos in the spine, the outside backs can find comfort in having Slater lending a helping hand during pre-season training.

“He [Slater] gets down for occasional sessions here and there, he pops his head in — usually on our speed day, just to help out with the outside backs and [with] positioning stuff”, Scott said.