The Storm has received some much-needed injury support with Oryn Keeley set to join them this week after he was granted an early release by the Dolphins.

Keeley was already signed with the Storm for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, but he’ll head south now and could be straight into the team for their game against the Titans next week given they have the bye in round 18.

“We’re delighted to have Oryn joining our club following our round 18 bye,” director of football Frank Ponissi said of the back-rower.

“He’s a quality young player and having him arrive earlier than expected is a great outcome for both the club and Oryn.

“We thank the Dolphins for working with us to facilitate his early release and look forward to welcoming Oryn and his partner Cloe to Melbourne.”

Melbourne desperately needed some reinforcements before the June 30 transfer deadline, with reports they’ve also signed Bulldogs centre Bronson Xerri.

It remains to be seen whether he will be granted an early release, with the Bulldogs making it clear they want him to see out the season.

The Storm is six points outside the top eight following Saturday night’s loss to Manly, with their backline severely depleted at the moment.

Xavier Coates (achilles), Jack Howarth (quad), Nick Meaney (calf) and Manaia Waitere (ankle) are all unavailable, while superstar halfback Jahrome Hughes is out with a hamstring strain.

Moses Leo (head knock), Joe Chan (back spasms) and Ativalu Lisati (syndesmosis) all left the field on Saturday night, while Eli Katoa and Tui Kamikamica won’t play again this season due to serious health issues.

“I wasn’t going to complain about that today or last week or whenever, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the injury toll that we’ve had this year,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said after the Sea Eagles loss.

“And some strange injuries with the one for Eli, the one for Tui, they were not run-of-the-mill injuries.

“Having them out and then also the outside backs we’ve had injured the last month or six weeks has been quite incredible.

“It is what it is and other sides go through it, so we just need to learn to navigate that. We did a really good job the second half, but why we couldn’t do that in the first half, we’ll have to try and work that out.”

Originally published as ‘Great outcome’: Storm secures Dolphins star before June 30 deadline as club deals with horror injury toll