He can't get much bigger, but Melbourne's man mountain Nelson Asofa-Solomona can get better when he lines up against the Sydney Roosters in Sunday's NRL grand final.
Nicknamed Big Nasty, Asofa-Solomona hadn't played in a month before their preliminary final win over Cronulla due to an ankle injury.
Coming off the bench, he used his 201cm, 123kg frame to plenty of damage through the middle against the Sharks while making 21 tackles.
But Storm assistant coach Jason Ryles warned the New Zealand Test prop would be better for the hit-out and he expected an improved performance at ANZ Stadium.
"I was pleasantly surprised with big Nels," Ryles said of Asofa-Solomona, who was voted this month by his peers in the Rugby League Players' Association Dream Team
"What we saw on the weekend was obviously his power running and he was really effective with his defence, which is good.
"He will be better for the run and hopefully he can repeat some of what we saw on the weekend.
Ryles said the 22-year-old was initially despondent he wouldn't recover from syndesmosis, suffered in round 23, in time for the finals.
But he worked hard on his rehabilitation and is now reaping the rewards.
"Once the ankle started to improve he sensed that he was a chance and he put a lot of work in, a lot of time with the performance guys so I think that's what you saw on the weekend - that hard work coming out.
"We like having the big boy in the team."
The Storm are at full-strength with their only injury concern, fellow prop Tim Glasby, overcoming rib cartilage damage to take his place in the title decider.
