The Stormโs injury replacement woes have gone from bad to worse, despite confirmation the club has secured the services of veteran winger David Nofoaluma for the remainder of the 2022 season.
Reports from NewsCorp journalist Brent Read indicate the search is getting frantic as the Storm look to address roster shortages in the middle of the pack and in the outside backs. Despite Nofoalumaโs arrival, Nick Meany suffered a shoulder injury in Fridayโs game against the Warriors, adding more strain to the situation, though the middle of the park remains the club's top priority before the deadline.
โTheyโre still chasing a middle,โ Read told Triple M.
โThe deadline is a day away, I think weโre going to have a frantic (final hours) for a few clubs.โ
โMelbourne approached the Gold Coast for Mo Fotuaika, the approached the Dragons about Tariq Sims, they approached Newcastle about Mitch Barnett โ they all got knocked back.โ
โBut theyโre still searching the NRL for a middle forward, theyโll be frantically hitting phones.โ
The Storm are already without Christian Welch and have missed Brandon Smith for multiple weeks following his suspension for dissent, but in better news coach Craig Bellamy revealed he was still holding out hope that Meaneyโs injury wasnโt as bad as originally expected.
โHeโs done something to his right shoulder but weโre not quite sure what heโs done,โ Bellamy said after the Stormโs victory in New Zealand.
โIt looked dire when he came off, obviously he had a sling on. But itโs looking a bit better at the moment, they donโt think itโs as bad as they did at the startโ.
The Stormโs previous pursuit of an outside-back replacement was dealt multiple blows with clubs rejecting approaches for Reece Walsh, Josh Addo-Carr, Daine Laurie and more, and their search for middle reinforcements has been equally problematic.
Itโs believed the Storm may widen their search to include the likes of out-of-favour Parramatta forward Nathan Brown. The Eels enforcer has 137 games of NRL experience, but has only played 13 games this year and is off-contract at the end of 2023.
