Storm prop welcomes rugged battle

Nelson Asofa-solomona has a message for Canberra hard nut Corey Horsburgh, who says he’s going after the Melbourne prop in tomorrow’s NRL elimination final – bring it on.

Setting the scene for AAMI Park fireworks, Horsburgh described himself as a ‘‘grub’’ who will do his best to lift the eighth-placed Raiders into week two of the finals.

‘‘I’d like to see him give his best shot,’’ AsofaSolomona said. ‘‘Corey’s always been an aggressive player so we expect that from him.’’

Standing 200cm and 115kg, Asofa-solomona is used to being a target for rival NRL forwards, while he has also brought plenty of fire himself, charged five times this season although he hasn’t been suspended.

In round 24 he had a running battle with Sydney Roosters enforcer and Kiwis team-mate Jared WaereaHargreaves – and the Melbourne forward said he welcomed it.

‘‘I think it’s just a compliment to myself,’’ the 26-year-old said. ‘‘When other players want to target you obviously they see you as a threat, and we saw Jared as a threat as well.

Canberra have won on their last four trips south to Melbourne, most recently a 20-16 victory in round 18.

Asofa-solomona said Melbourne need to win the battle through the middle to give the likes of Cameron Munster, Nick Meaney and Xavier Coates time to shine.

‘‘[Canberra] have got such a such a great forward pack and you can’t take that away from them,’’ he said.

‘‘In those last few games they’ve been playing awesome, trying to come through the middle.

‘‘When it comes to finals it’s a new competition and we know they’re going to give it to us, but we’ll give it straight back.’’