Melbourne Storm could swap Joe Chan onto the bench for Sunday’s NRL grand final

Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy hasn’t ruled out making a late switch to his bench, with Joe Chan on standby to come in for rookie Lazarus Vaalepu for Sunday’s grand final showdown with the Panthers.

Storm’s plans were thrown into disarray when man mountain Nelson Asofa-Solomona copped a five-game ban at the judiciary on Monday night after he failed to have his careless high tackle charge downgraded.

Bellamy had several options to fill the massive void and turned to Vaalepu when the team lists were officially released on Tuesday afternoon even though the rookie prop has only played 127 minutes in seven NRL games.

Vaalepu last played in round 27 and hasn’t featured in the finals, with the 25-year-old mainly running out for Sunshine Coast in the Queensland Cup this year.

His teammates have backed him to handle the occasion, but there could be a late switch, with Bellamy dropping a selection bombshell on Thursday that he hasn’t decided who will take the final bench spot.

Joe Chan is also in the mix at this stage, with the versatile forward able to play on an edge or in the middle, with match fitness an added advantage given he started in the NSW Cup grand final for North Sydney on Sunday.

“We probably still haven’t made that decision properly yet. We need to see how we go at training today and whatever,” Bellamy said.

“Both those guys have played really well in the NSW Cup, I think ‘Laz’ actually plays Queensland Cup. They’ve both played really well but with Nelson gone, we have to put someone in there. They’re the next two in line.”

Whoever comes in will have the full backing of the rest of the squad, with Storm skipper Harry Grant praising their unheralded forwards who haven’t received too many plaudits this season.

“There’s a lot of talk externally about the spine, and the team understands that,” the hooker said.

“But it’s the guys like Josh King, Trent Loiero who moved into lock this year and has made a great transition from back row, big Tui and what he’s doing, and Nelson has been unreal this season, and it’s disappointing he won’t be there on Sunday but he’s still on the journey with us.

“There are a lot of guys that don’t get the raps, but internally they’re getting plenty of raps week in, week out.

“They’re very valued and adored in the team.”

Meanwhile, the Panthers haven’t made a final call on back-rower Scott Sorensen, who is battling a hamstring injury that has kept him out of the finals.

Sorensen has been named in the reserves and would likely come in for Matt Eisenhuth if he’s cleared to play.

“He’s getting through everything he needs to at the moment,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said.

“We’ve still got a couple of sessions to go. We’ll give him every chance but we’re not going to take a risk there either. We’ll see how he goes.”