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Storm star Nelson Asofa-Solomona could be on the way out of the club with cashed-up rivals keen to pounce on the Kiwi international.
Asofa-Solomona inked a four-year contract extension midway through last season after he had been tempted by a switch to rugby but now finds himself struggling to regain his NRL spot after he has reportedly fallen out of favour with the Storm.
The towering forward will miss Saturday’s home clash with the Warriors with a hamstring injury and is set to make his first appearance for 2024 with the Storm’s feeder side in the Queensland Cup next week.
Tui Kamikamica, Max King and Christian Welch are ahead of him in Craig Bellamy’s middle rotation while Trent Loiero has been switched to lock and the club also recruited Shawn Blore from the Wests Tigers in the off-season as an extra option in the pack.
According to a NewsCorp report, other clubs are keeping an eye on events as they unfold with the Dragons and the Warriors considered the frontrunners for his services if NAS comes on the market.
St George Illawarra have plenty of money to spend after overhauling their roster while the Warriors are desperate to sign a marquee forward following Addin Fonua-Blake’s defection to Cronulla next season.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Storm coach Craig Bellamy on Friday said the hulking prop needs more time as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
“Nelson needs to do a fair bit more training before he will come back into the NRL side so we will see how he progresses in the next couple of weeks.”
Superstar playmaker Cameron Munster will miss a second game as he deals with a troublesome groin injury but Bellamy believes he could be back for the Storm’s round-three clash with Newcastle.
He said Munster had been able to string a few training sessions together this week without the injury flaring up.
“He just hasn’t done the amount of work and it has been bothering and a bit strange, sort of comes and goes,” Bellamy said.
“So hopefully he has a bit of consistency in his training – the last couple days went good so hopefully he could continue on that and he might be right for next week.
“It’s been hard for our medical people to treat it. We’ll just see how he progresses.”
Brisbane will be sweating on scans of captain Adam Reynolds’ right knee after he sustained a recurrence of an earlier injury during the the 28-18 win over South Sydney.
The Broncos halfback left the Suncorp Stadium arena on Thursday night with 10 minutes remaining after battling on in clear discomfort in the second half.
He will have scans on Friday which will determine whether he is any chance of playing against Penrith in a grand final rematch at BlueBet Stadium.
Reynolds suffered the injury initially in Las Vegas in the round-one loss to Sydney Roosters. He did his rehab and said he felt fine at the start of the clash with his former club.
“I felt it a little bit before halftime and thought I’d be right to get back out there, but I hurt it in a tackle,” Reynolds said. “The plan is to get a scan in the morning.”
Asked what type of knee injury it was, Reynolds grinned and said that he “couldn’t give those secrets away”.
“It is just a knee injury,” he said, adding to the intrigue. When quizzed further over whether it was a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury, he said it was “along those lines”.
If Reynolds can’t play the Panthers his likely replacement will be 24-year-old back-up half Jock Madden, who filled in for five games last year when Reynolds or five-eighth Ezra Mam were unavailable.
“If Reyno is no good we have all the faith in Jock,” Broncos winger Jesse Arthars said.
“We have full faith in anyone that steps into a role at this club. The boys train really hard for those jumpers.”
Brisbane coach Kevin Walters agreed the side must find another gear to beat Penrith after a win that was far from perfect.
“We were a long way off where we need to be and so were Souths to be fair but there were some things to like with some individual players,,” Walters said.
“As a team we aren’t quite nailing it … yet. I am just happy we won because you need to win this time of year just to breathe.”
Two-try hero Reece Walsh at fullback, blockbusting centre Selwyn Cobbo and hard running and tackling second-rower Brendan Piakura were among Brisbane’s best.
Winger Deine Mariner also scored a double and showcased the speed that has led to him being selected ahead of veteran Corey Oates.
Star recruit Jack Wighton will play his first game for South Sydney next week but coach Jason Demetriou has warned he will not be the saviour unless the team makes big changes.
Wighton, recruited from Canberra, served the final week of a three-match suspension as the Rabbitohs lost 28-18 to Brisbane on Thursday night in a performance Demetriou aptly labelled “a horror show”.
Wighton is set to line up in the centres against Sydney Roosters where he will provide the composure and direction the side needs.
The Rabbitohs had a completion rate of 58 per cent against the Broncos and made 16 errors, many of them of the schoolboy variety.
It was a virtual comedy of errors but Demetriou found nothing to laugh about.
The worst was losing possession to the Broncos while feeding the scrum when a lazy South Sydney boot kicked the ball back generously to the hosts.
Not far behind was when half Lachlian Ilias kicked the ball into his own teammate Tallis Duncan.
Demetriou has been without Wighton to start the season, and will continue to miss injured centre Campbell Graham for an extended period.
Wighton’s availability from now on will be a boost. The 31-year-old has played 242 NRL games, 10 State of Origin matches for NSW and won the 2022 World Cup for Australia while playing centre.
“It is going to be his first game of the year and we are excited to have him make his debut for the club,” Demetriou said post-match.
“He gives us experience on the edges and some physicality as well so he will be a big ‘in’ for us.
“But we have to tidy up the dumb things we did tonight, get rid of the dumb stuff … otherwise Jack will be doing what the rest of them were tonight and that’s tackling.”
The Rabbitohs showed resilience on their tryline and had promising moments with the ball after half-time when bench utility Siliva Havili scored a try and created one, but overall it was substandard.
“It was a horror show of really little things that kept putting pressure on ourselves,” Demetriou said
“I said to them (in the sheds) if we bottle that effort and desire and tidy up the effort stuff we will see how good this footy team is.”
Demetriou said the issues were down to a lack of concentration, which led to fatigue.
The Rabbitohs have now lost their opening two matches of the season and must lift for their arch enemies next Friday night at Allianz Stadium.
with AAP
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