Surprising act by Storm young gun that has Billy Slater convinced of huge long-term potential

Billy Slater says it won't be the perfect season from Sua Fa'alogo straight away but believes fans will applaud him at some stage as he endeavours to replace Ryan Papenhuyzen this season.

And it's an act that Fa'alogo did when Papenhuyzen was at the club that has Slater most impressed by the 22-year-old.

Fa'alogo was always identified as the next fullback for the Storm but with Papenhuyzen still originally contracted for this season, there was a long wait ahead for him.

READ MORE: Vegas trip delayed as V'landys and Abdo's flight turned back

READ MORE: Aussies defy Perry, Garth setbacks to level series

READ MORE: Knights unveil $13m halves plan as Vegas teams revealed

Papenhuyzen then retired in the off-season which has sped up the Samoan's development.

Fa'alogo re-signed with the Storm in February 2024 for five years despite his path being unclear. It's that commitment that Slater wants fans to remember.

"He's a very exciting individual, and and the other thing I I love about Sua - and there's not a whole heap of this in the game anymore - a couple of years ago he signed a long-term deal at the Melbourne Storm," he said on Nine's The Billy Slater podcast.

"He's a genuine fullback and when he signed that deal, it was well before Ryan Papenhuyzen had even thought of walking away from the game. So he's a genuine No.1 and he signed a long-term deal to stay at the Melbourne Storm even though that jersey was sewn up for an indefinite period of time and that showed a lot of loyalty.

"He sees himself as a Melbourne Storm person. He came through the junior system down in Victoria and he wants to represent that.

"So there's probably no better flag to fly that part of the game than Sua Fa'alogo.

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now.

"There's Cups down here named after him, he's a crowd favourite and I'm just looking forward to him starting the season and there's a lot of challenges that Melbourne will face this year with the players that departed at the end of last year off the back of two grand final losses but I think the energy of Sua Fa'alogo will certainly help that."

Fa'alogo was born in Samoa but was raised in Melbourne, playing for the Northern Thunder before moving up the grades of the Storm's junior system.

He adds to a very short list of Storm players to have been developed from a young age by the club and turned into an NRL player.

The speedster debuted late in 2023, scoring two tries on debut and since then has continued to float between Queensland Cup and NSW Cup for Melbourne's feeder sides while also playing NRL.

Last year he injured his hamstring and managed only seven matches. He has played 22 games of NRL in total but will now likely have to step up and fill Papenhuyzen's shoes.

"He'll bring a lot of energy, that's for sure," Slater said.

"He's an energetic sort of person and a very energetic player. He's got a lot of bright stuff in his game, he's electric he'll get people out of their seats. But he's still very young in his NRL career. He's quite inexperienced, he's only played seven NRL games at fullback. He's played about 20 NRL games all up but only seven at fullback, so he's still got a lot to learn.

"He's going to do some brilliant stuff this year, I've got no doubt about that. We're going to stand up and we're going to applaud some of the stuff that Sua Fa'alogo does but he's also going to come up with some some learnings, some errors that he's going to really benefit from and learn from.

"I'm looking forward to helping him out through the year and helping him out through the early stages of his career ... by all reports he's had a a fantastic pre-season. He's still very raw and he's got to learn a lot in the game and he's going to learn a lot over the next couple of seasons, but I'm looking forward to watching him play."

Melbourne kicks off its campaign against Parramatta on Thursday week.