Craig Bellamy has warned Nelson Asofa-Solomona may need more time in reserve grade before he can return from injury to Melbourne's NRL side.
Barnstorming prop Asofa-Solomona has missed the opening three rounds of the NRL season after suffering a hamstring injury over the summer.
The hulking Kiwi international returned to training this month and made his return to the field for the Storm's NSW Cup feeder side North Sydney in their 50-24 loss to Newcastle on Sunday.
Asofa-Solomona played restricted minutes in the middle of the park and later watched on as the first-grade side lost 14-12 to the Knights.
The Storm have the bye in round four but there's no guarantee Asofa-Solomona will return to face Brisbane at NRL level the following week.
Bellamy was also unsure if five-eighth Cameron Munster could return from a groin injury for his first game of the season but thought Joe Chan may bounce back from a hand infection.
"We've got a bye next week so I'm not quite sure where everybody is at the moment," the coach said.
"(Asofa-Solomona) has been out for a while, he hasn't done a lot of training so he might need a little bit more time.
"He aggravated it (his hamstring injury) a couple of times too. He's missed a lot of training. He had two full weeks (of training) before today but he's still pretty much underdone.
"We'll just see how it progresses from here.
"But hopefully we've got Joey Chan back for the next game too."
Bellamy's prediction that Asofa-Solmona could remain in reserve grade comes following reports rival clubs were ready to pounce on the prop should he fall down the pecking order at the Storm.
Currently, Asofa-Solomona is contracted at Melbourne until the end of the 2027 season.
Bellamy played Asofa-Solomona on an edge at times last season but planned to use him in the middle once he returned.
Former Wests Tigers second-rower Shawn Blore impressed Bellamy making his club debut on the left edge in the loss to the Knights.
"If I had to answer that today, I'd say (Asofa-Solomona) is a middle," Bellamy said.
"At the end of the day I thought Shawn did a really good job today ... obviously Eli (Katoa) has made the right side his own."
Storm captain Harry Grant is content to remain patient for Asofa-Solomona's comeback if required, though admitting it would be "big" if he returned to face Brisbane.
"He might need a bit of time or whatever so we can't really look too far ahead. We'll just take our learnings from tonight and look forward to the Broncs and who we've got in the team then," Grant said.
