Melbourne giant Nelson Asofa-Solomona has vowed to stop taking a backseat in 2024, the prop adamant he wants to lead the Storm by example in what shapes as Craig Bellamy's final season at the helm.
Asofa-Solomona has had little time to stew over the NRL preliminary final defeat to Penrith given he is preparing to make his boxing debut on the Battle on the Reef card in Townsville against Dolphins prop Jarrod Wallace.
Asofa-Solomona, who tips the scales at 130kg, said Wallace "had a lot of balls" to fight the prop who is still hurting from his role in Melbourne's finals exit.
The Storm were going toe to toe with the Panthers until Asofa-Solomona was penalised for a push on Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary in the 15th minute.
Asofa-Solomona was hooked by Bellamy, his substitution the catalyst for the Panthers running away with the biggest preliminary final victory in the NRL era.
The New Zealander admits he has struggled to fill the void left by Jesse Bromwich and says he wants his actions and words to shape the Storm's destiny in 2024.
"I might have taken a little bit too much of a backseat this year, I didn't really realise how much influence I can have on our playing group," Asofa-Solomona told AAP.
"You can't let people push you around and be bullied, but they (Penrith) really capitalised off that push and I know I cost my team two points and I'm not happy with that.
"It's all a learning curve for me and it goes to show what sort of influence I can have on this team, I know if I lose my head it's not a good thing for the team."
Asofa-Solomona is proud of the Storm's achievements in 2023 after losing Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, Felise Kaufusi and Brandon Smith at the end of the previous season.
But the prop says their finals finish was proof that with some adjustments they could compete for a premiership next year.
"That experience is hard to replace but to make it to a prelim with some pretty inconsistent football, is pretty special," he said.
"It shows what we can achieve within this team.
"We'd have one of our best games and then we'd lose a couple on the trot and that was frustrating because we know what we need to do.
"It's handling small moments and you see it when you watch Penrith, they just click like anything and we need to be like that and nail those too."
