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Why Asofa-Solomona fell out of love with rugby league
Nicholas Quinlan • December 5th, 2025 8:21 pm
Former Melbourne Storm player Nelson Asofa-Solomona has reflected on his decision to walk away from Rugby League after playing 215 games with the club.
The prop, who was a two-time premiership winner with the club, requested to be released from his contract in October, with the initial assumption being that he would switch codes.
But instead, the 29-year-old has stated that he has fallen in love with boxing, having now signed a multi-year deal with No Limit Boxing, who have already organised for him to fight in on the undercard of the Nikita Tszyu vs Michael Zerafa fight, despite not having an opponent yet.
When speaking about why he fell out of love with Rugby League, the Kiwi said that being in and out of the team slowly saw him lose his joy for the sport.
“I just think over time, things just change, people change,” Asofa-Solomona said on SEN 1170’s Boys of Summer.“Just being in and out of the team, also the last couple of years, I missed a couple of Grand Finals, which really hurt.
“I think there were just a bunch of things that led to that. I don’t want to go too much into detail.”
Those two Grand Finals that he missed (2024 and 2025) were as a result of being suspended.
In 2024, Asofa-Solomona was charged with a Grade 3 Carless High Tackle on Sydney’s Lindsay Collins in their preliminary final clash against the Roosters, seeing him miss five games, which included their loss to the Panthers.
This year, he received a three-match ban following a shoulder charge on Brisbane’s Ben Talty in Round 27, which saw him miss the decider.
Reflecting on those two incidents, he felt that while the first with Collins was somewhat of a freaky accident, the second incident was what he described as a ‘joke’.
“So, the first one was tough,” he added.
“I thought I was really hard done by with just a freakish accident, but by the time the second one came around, I just accepted it. I was just over it.
“It was a bit of a joke at that point.”
But while he has departed from the Storm, he holds nothing but affection towards the club.
"I'm (the) Melbourne Storm's biggest fan," he said
"I'm going to miss the joint, it still hasn't sunk in that I'm not going to be at the Storm."
Asofa-Solomona’s first fight is currently set for January 16 on the Gold Coast.
