Melbourne Storm’s Tepai Moeroa, Grant Anderson and Dean Ieremia have all put pen to paper on new one-year deals, keeping them at AAMI Park until the end of the 2024 season.
Storm player no. 215, Moeroa made his first appearance in the Purple jersey in Round 21, 2021, after spending a year with the NSW Waratahs. He played four games in 2021 and was among Storm’s forward pack in the first eight games of the 2022 season before he sustained a shoulder injury which ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign. He capped off that year by representing the Cook Islands in the Rugby League World Cup. 28-year-old Moeroa has played 130 NRL games since he debuted for the Paramatta Eels in 2014.
Promising young-gun, Ieremia will be looking to make a return to the starting line-up in 2024 after an ACL injury in the pre-season of 2023 ruled him out for the year. The 22-year-old Samoan winger has played 22 games for Storm since he debuted in Round 8, 2021, the same year he was dubbed Storm’s Rookie of the Year. Ieremia is a local Victorian product having played his junior football with the Sunbury Tigers.
Anderson became player no. 222 when he debuted for Storm against the Sydney Roosters in Round 14, 2022, scoring two tries and playing a crucial role in the Club’s win that game. He has made a total of 10 NRL appearances with a standout performance in Round 27 this season scoring a double against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.
Storm Head of Football, Frank Ponissi, said securing the trio is a testament to their hard work.
“We see a lot of potential and up-side in Tep, Grant and Dean,” Ponissi said.
“Tep has a lot of NRL experience and was showing some really good form in particular towards the last half of the season in 2023. We’ll look to get a really good pre-season into him and hopefully we can see him go to new heights next year.
“Dean had a rough run with injury this year but we’re confident with a good pre-season that we can get him back into a position to put his hand up for selection week-in and week-out.
“When Grant wasn’t named in the NRL line-up he was playing some impressive footy with the Sunshine Coast Falcons. His Round 27 game against the Broncos was probably one of the best games we’ve seen him play where he scored two tries and hopefully we can continue to build on that talent and see more of it throughout the season.
Overall, we’re really excited to have secured the trio for another year and we’re looking forward to getting them on the park in pre-season to hopefully see them all go to new heights.
Frank Ponissi
