{"id":200349,"date":"2025-10-09T12:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T12:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/200349\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T12:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T12:30:08","slug":"melbourne-storm-release-nelson-asofa-solomona-from-final-two-years-of-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/200349\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne Storm release Nelson Asofa-Solomona from final two years of contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne<\/a> has released Nelson Asofa-Solomona<\/a> from the final two years of his contract.<\/p>\n

The giant prop was contracted to the Storm for 2026 and 2027 on a deal believed to be worth $850,000 per year.<\/p>\n

According to a Storm statement, Asofa-Solomona requested a release and the club agreed.<\/p>\n

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Wide World of Sports’ The Mole reported<\/a> in the wake of Melbourne’s grand final defeat to Brisbane<\/a> that the Storm were unhappy with his “attitude”.<\/p>\n

Twelve months after being ruled out of the 2024 grand final due to suspension, the Kiwi international was sidelined for this year’s decider because of another ban.<\/p>\n

His enormous ability is undoubted but repeated on-field indiscretions, largely in the form of high tackles, makes him a liability.<\/p>\n

\"Nelson<\/p>\n

Nelson Asofa-Solomona.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

“I have been committed to the Storm since signing as a junior in 2011,” Asofa-Solomona said in a Storm statement.<\/p>\n

“With over 10 years now at the top level and given all I have achieved with the club, I have chosen to step away and consider other opportunities and new challenges.<\/p>\n

“I’ve loved my time in Melbourne. I’m very thankful to all the players, coaches, and staff that I had the privilege to work alongside during my time at such a prestigious club.<\/p>\n

“I also want to give a special thank you to the greater Storm family and fans for all their love and support over the last decade.”<\/p>\n

Asofa-Solomona played 215 games for the Storm and was a member of their triumphant 2017 and 2020 grand final teams.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old received Storm life membership last year.<\/p>\n

Melbourne chairman Matt Tripp thanked Asofa-Solomona for the impact he’d had on the club.<\/p>\n

“Nelson has made a great contribution to Melbourne Storm over his 10 years at the club,” Tripp said.<\/p>\n

“While we’re disappointed to lose a player of his calibre and experience, we fully respect his decision to explore new opportunities.<\/p>\n

“We thank Nelson for his outstanding service in the purple jersey and wish him and his family all the very best for their next chapter.”<\/p>\n

Asofa-Solomona is set to represent New Zealand in the Pacific Championships, which begin on October 18 and conclude with the final on November 9.<\/p>\n

The Kiwis will begin their campaign against Samoa at Auckland’s Go Media Stadium on October 19.<\/p>\n

Asofa-Solomona could sign with a new NRL club or make the switch to rebel rugby union tournament R360.<\/p>\n

The firebrand front-rower is among a long list of NRL and NRLW stars the rebel tournament is targeting, as are Nathan Cleary, Reece Walsh, Cameron Munster, Zac Lomax, Jye Gray and Jessica Sergis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne has released Nelson Asofa-Solomona from the final two years of his contract. The giant prop was contracted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-200349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}