What triggered Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s alleged Bali brawl
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has spoken after seeing the footage of Storm forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s alleged involvement in a violent street fight in Bali.
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Melbourne Storm super coach Craig Bellamy insists his giant front-rower Nelson Asofa-Solomona would never go looking for a street fight.
“Nelson is not the sort of bloke to provoke anything,” Bellamy said. “But if a teammate’s in a bit of strife he’ll go in and stick up for him.
“I know him well and he’ll only get aggressive if someone is being picked on.”
When Melbourne winger Suliasi Vunivalu was coward punched outside a Bali nightclub over the weekend, front-row enforcer Asofa-Solomona allegedly took matters into his own hands.
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Asofa-Solomona arrived back in Australia on Monday morning, vowing “my side of the story will soon be told” after allegedly being involved in a violent street fight in Bali.
The giant Storm forward has cut short an end-of-season trip with teammates to return home and face questions over an incident that was partly captured on a mobile phone.
Bellamy is holidaying on the Gold Coast but received video of the incident via a text message on Sunday night.
“He’s not a guy who goes looking for trouble,” Bellamy said. “He’s never been in trouble for anything physical that I’m aware of.
“It’s disappointing but as far as we know Suli (Vunivalu) copped the king hit and Nelson has reacted. That’s all we know until we actually talk to him this afternoon.”
The Daily Telegraph understands NRL integrity unit boss Karyn Murphy is on her way to Melbourne to interview the Storm and Kiwi Test front-rower.
The NRL is also expected to make enquiries at the Bali nightclub with witnesses before determining a punishment for the player.
He told Storm officials in a phone call that he became involved in the fight after a patron had attacked his teammate in an unprovoked assault.
His version of events has been backed up by eyewitnesses.
“He just went berserk,” according to a source in Bali, “His mate got whacked and he went off.”
Storm officials organised for Asofa-Solomona to return to Melbourne immediately. “My side of the story will be told soon,” he told Channel 7, after landing at Melbourne Airport on Monday morning.
"My side of the story will be told soon"
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) October 13, 2019
Melbourne @Storm player Nelson Asofa-Solomona has returned to Melbourne after being involved in a Bali street fight pic.twitter.com/F53Ze2ZGzm
Vunivalu was named in Fiji’s World Nines squad and there are now questions about whether he will take his place in the the squad.
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Asofa-Solomona will front chief executive Dave Donaghy and face questioning from the NRL integrity unit.
Storm officials are expected to come down hard on the front-rower. That he was reacting to Vunivalu being assaulted will not save him from a possible fine or suspension.
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“Storm takes these type of incidents very seriously,” a spokesman said.
“While it is admirable for a front-rower to protect teammates on the football field, the fact he took the law into his own hands will not help his case.”
Another Storm official said: “No matter what the circumstances are, we don’t accept this sort of behaviour.”
Nearly a dozen Melbourne Storm players have been in Bali for several days on an end of season trip, including Josh Addo-Carr, Cameron Munster, Felise Kaufusi, Brandon Smith and Tui Kamikamica.
Asofa-Solomona’s position in the Kiwi squad for upcoming Test matches against Australia and Great Britain is now in doubt considering New Zealand’s hard stance on disciplinary issues in recent years.