{"id":411461,"date":"2026-01-14T03:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T03:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/411461\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T03:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T03:46:16","slug":"nas-reveals-why-he-rejected-eels-and-warriors-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/411461\/","title":{"rendered":"NAS reveals why he rejected Eels and Warriors &#8211; NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/nelson-asofa-solomona\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nelson Asofa-Solomona<\/a> has revealed why he turned down a lucrative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> return to pursue a shock switch to professional boxing, declaring he had \u201cfallen out of love\u201d with rugby league.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/melbourne-storm\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Melbourne Storm<\/a> enforcer rejected interest from multiple clubs, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/new-zealand-warriors\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Zealand Warriors<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/parramatta-eels\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Parramatta Eels<\/a>, walking away from an offer believed to be worth up to $800,000 per season to chase a heavyweight boxing career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Instead, the 130kg forward will make his professional debut on the undercard of the Nikita Tszyu\u2013Michael Zerafa bout in Brisbane.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-144097\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/NRLMelCanb198.jpg.webp.webp\" alt=\"Storm warning: Bellamy's reason for forward pursuit becomes clear in finals horror show\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\"  \/>Nelson Asofa-Solomona during the round two NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs at AAMI Park on March 11, 2023, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Grimes\/Zero Digital Sports)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;Yes, there was some interest from the Eels and the Warriors,&#8221; Asofa-Solomona told the Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;There were a few other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> teams that reached out, but I told them I&#8217;m not interested in playing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> right now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The 29-year-old admitted repeated suspensions and changes to the modern game took their toll.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;Rugby league has changed over time, and it was really hard to adapt,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;I felt like I was in the black book with referees, and it was hard to get out of that cycle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Asofa-Solomona revealed he had planned to step away from sport entirely before discovering boxing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;I was actually going to take the whole year off, I&#8217;d fallen out of love with rugby league,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;But I went into the gym with Team Ellis and fell in love with boxing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He also confirmed Storm coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/craig-bellamy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Craig Bellamy<\/a> encouraged him to chase happiness rather than another contract.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;He just said, \u2018Go find something you enjoy&#8217;,&#8221; Asofa-Solomona said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Known for his intimidating physical presence, Asofa-Solomona says boxing suits his personality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;I always seem to find myself in chaos, and I like chaos,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;That&#8217;s what boxing provides.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nelson Asofa-Solomona has revealed why he turned down a lucrative NRL return to pursue a shock switch to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-411461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411461","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=411461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}