{"id":274024,"date":"2025-11-09T21:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/274024\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T21:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:23:08","slug":"nrl-club-make-formal-play-for-released-storm-forward-nelson-asofa-solomona-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/274024\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL club make “formal play” for released Storm forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

One month after rejecting an offer that would have seen them sign New Zealand<\/a> international Nelson Asofa-Solomona<\/a>, that same NRL<\/a> club has reportedly made a formal play to secure his services.<\/p>\n

Released by the Melbourne Storm<\/a> last month after missing back-to-back NRL<\/a> grand finals and failing to live up to his high price tag of $850,000 a season, Asofa-Solomona’s next step in his career has been clouded in uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Far from his dominant best over the past couple of seasons, the front-rower only played 12 matches during the 2025 NRL<\/a> season and even found himself appearing in reserve-grade at times due to being a liability on the field, which saw him suspended on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n

Still only 29, there have been conflicting reports over the past few weeks about whether he will ever return to the sport of rugby league or will instead try his hand at another sport such as boxing or rugby union.<\/p>\n

With Asofa-Solomona already linked to the Parramatta Eels<\/a>,\u00a0The Courier-Mail<\/a>\u00a0reports that the New Zealand Warriors<\/a> have become the latest team to make a formal play for the released Storm front-rower.<\/p>\n

Shopped to them at the beginning of September<\/a> through a third-party contact, the surprise move by the Warriors comes after they previously knocked back an offer<\/a> to sign him while he was still contracted at the Storm in October.<\/p>\n

However, it is understood that the front-rower has no desire to return to the NRL<\/a> at least for next season and has found himself on the radar of a switch to boxing and potentially the rebel rugby union competition known as R360.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Which TEN players are most likely to join R360?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is off the table. I just need a bit of time off,\u201d he said via\u00a0<\/a>The New Zealand Herald<\/a>\u00a0over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It’s been] a crazy last couple of years, I just need to find a bit of joy back into my game. If I were to stay in rugby league, I would probably try to find a place where I can enjoy my football again.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got a lot to give, I still believe my best years are in front of me. I just need to find a place that can unlock that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was even looking at having a full year off and just focusing on my mental health. We’re living in a different age of phones and everything, it’s really frying everyone’s [brains] and dopamine receptors\u2026 so just to get away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One month after rejecting an offer that would have seen them sign New Zealand international Nelson Asofa-Solomona, that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-274024","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\/274024","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=274024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}