Melbourne have confirmed the signing of representative prop Nate Myles, as the NRL ladder leaders look to bolster a team hit by injury and the State of Origin period.
But he'll have to wait to make his Storm debut, with an elbow injury ruling him out of the club's clash with North Queensland on Saturday at AAMI Park.
The Storm will be without five leading players due to Origin duty, while prop Jordan McLean is expected to spend three to four weeks on the sidelines with a cheekbone fracture.
Myles' release from Manly came a day after the 31-year-old was dropped from Queensland's Origin squad, having been a mainstay through 32 matches in their decade of dominance.
Melbourne will be his fifth club after playing 26 of his 230 NRL games for the Sea Eagles. He joined Manly last year after stints with Canterbury, the Sydney Roosters and Gold Coast.
"I've probably had more clubs than Tiger Woods, but the thing for me is just enjoying football," Myles told the Storm's website.
"I want to get back to enjoying it and trying to play some long minutes."
Myles said playing under coach Craig Bellamy, with a strong track record of getting good mileage out of recycled players, was a key factor behind the move.
"I think everyone's a little bit envious of the way people talk about Melbourne Storm," he said.
"(I've) definitely always had that thought process of I'd like to be a part of it."
Storm back-rower Dale Finucane had no doubt Myles could play a useful role this season in Melbourne's title push.
"He's obviously quite an old school-type player," Finucane said on Tuesday.
"He's just that run hard, tackle hard mentality and that's exactly what it is.
"He's quite tough an opponent to come up against."
Besides the Origin period, Finucane said Myles would also give last year's losing grand finalists valuable depth at the business end of the season.
"Over the last two years, probably more so towards the back end of the year, we've had injuries in both our forwards and backs," Finucane said.
"Last year, at the start of the year, we went into our depth a lot in our outside backs and probably, towards the end of the year, we needed a lot in our forwards.
"Nate will be able to do that and obviously bring a lot of depth to our squad if he was to be here."
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