Melbourne Storm has strengthened its future forward stocks by signing New South Wales State of Origin representative Tariq Sims from the St George Illawarra Dragons and Joe Chan from the Catalans Dragons.
Chan will be on board for 2023 and 2024, while Sims has signed a one-year deal for the 2023 season.
The NSW Blues representative will bring extensive experience to the Storm squad.
He began his NRL career with the North Queensland Cowboys in 2011 and has now played 209 NRL matches, as well as five Tests for Fiji and five games for the Blues, including all three matches in the starting pack in last year’s series win against Queensland.
Chan is currently playing in his second season in Super League and has already shown he is a versatile forward who can play in the middle or on the edge.
He made his Super League debut for Catalans in the 2021 season and experienced finals football in his rookie campaign.
The 20-year-old has now made a total of 12 Super League appearances, including seven this year, scoring four tries.
Joe will become the second generation of the Chan family to make his home in Melbourne.
His father Alex was Storm player #71 and turned out in 32 games for Melbourne in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, as well as playing three Test matches for New Zealand.
He has remained strongly involved in the game and is currently the General Manager at the Dragons.
