Melbourne Storm has today announced the key signings of four players for the 2016 season.
The Club has signed exciting Australian schoolboys duo Scott Drinkwater and Curtis Scott, experienced front rower Mark Nicholls and Thunderbolts winger Tony Tumusa.
Young halfback Drinkwater, who has been part of the Roosters junior system, scored a hat-trick for his school Terrigal High in the Schoolboy final earlier this season, leading his team to an impressive 40-12 victory. The 18-year old possesses a number of the natural talents that make a talented halfback and will be able to learn from the best when he links up with Storm star Cooper Cronk.
Storm has also secured the signature of the promising centre Curtis Scott. The 18-year old Scott, captained Cronulla Shark’s SG Ball premiership side this season and was also named player of the tournament at the Australian Schoolboys carnival in July.
Both Drinkwater and Scott are finishing their year 12 school studies and will join Storm in November
The signing of former Canberra Raiders prop Mark Nicholls with further boost Storm’s forward pack.
25-year-old Nicholls made his debut with Canberra in 2012 and has played 20 NRL games. He will join Melbourne eager to make the starting 17, with head coach Craig Bellamy having a proven track record in turning players from other clubs into consistent first graders. Nicholls will also join fellow forward Matt White in joining Storm in 2016.
Thunderbolts winger Tony Tumusa joins Joe Stimson as Storm NYC players to be promoted to the Club’s NRL squad in 2016. Originally from Auckland, Tumusa has spent the past two seasons with Storm’s NYC team scoring 20 tries in 18 games this season. His impressive 2015 form saw him selected in the Junior Kiwis for the mid-year Test.
Storm Football Director Frank Ponissi said, “We are extremely excited to announce these signings to our members and fans. Both Scott and Curtis were highly sought after by other clubs and we are thrilled to now be in a position to announce they have signed with Melbourne Storm.
“Our recruiting staff has closely followed their progress over the last few years and we believe being in the Storm system under our coaching staff will assist them in becoming NRL players.
“The addition of Mark and also Matt to our roster, will add further experience to our forward pack lead by Kiwi internationals Jesse Bromwich, Kevin Proctor and Tohu Harris.
“We are also pleased to be adding Tony Tumusa to our NRL squad. Tony is an exciting young talent who has had a great season with the Thunderbolts and he will be a great addition to our outside backs group.”
Storm will crown their best player of the season at Wednesday night’s Player of the Year awards ceremony.