Melbourne Storm forward Josh King will remain in the purple jersey through to the end of the 2025 NRL season after signing a two-year contract extension.
A member of Storm’s Emerging Leaders’ group this season, King played in all 25 matches in his first year with Storm in 2022, including 16 in the starting pack.
He earned his first senior representative jersey with a call-up to the Prime Minister’s XIII team that defeated Papua New Guinea and reached the 100-game milestone in the round 23 win against Brisbane.
The 27-year-old started off 2023 by regaining his starting role and playing 80 minutes straight for the first time in his career in Storm’s golden point victory against Parramatta in round one, amassing 55 tackles to go with 14 hit-ups for 133 metres and a try assist for Nick Meaney’s four-pointer.
King said extending with Storm had been an easy decision to make.
“I have been able to play my best footy while here in Melbourne and I hope to continue improving over the next few years,” he said.
I enjoy living in Melbourne and being part of the Melbourne Storm club. I have built many great friendships with both players and staff. The Storm feels like home.
Josh King
“I am really happy to lock in a couple more years and look forward to seeing what we can achieve.”
Storm has also signed Sunshine Coast Falcons forward Lazarus Vaalepu for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The 23-year-old just completed Storm’s pre-season on a train and trial contract and will join Storm full-time on a development contract next year and the top 30 squad in 2025.
He played 14 Hostplus Cup matches for the Falcons last year and featured off the bench in Melbourne’s NRL Pre-season Challenge match against the Roosters in Geelong.
Vaalepu’s signing continues the tradition of Falcons players making their way along Storm’s development pathway to the NRL squad, following on from the likes of current NRL squad members Justin Olam and Tui Kamikamica.
