Wests Tigers winger Ken Maumalo says he considered an approach to join Melbourne on loan before opting against it.

A sense of loyalty to Wests Tigers teammates formed a key part in Ken Maumalo's reasoning for turning down a mid-season transfer to Melbourne to play alongside cousin Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

The Storm have been decimated by injury in the backline and spent the month prior to the August 1 deadline attempting to find players to fill the void.

The Storm are without George Jennings, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Xavier Coates, Reimis Smith, Nick Meaney and Justin Olam for this week's game against the Gold Coast.

Maumalo, Tigers teammate Daine Laurie and Warriors fullback Reece Walsh were on the Storm's wishlist before Craig Bellamy opted to bring in David Nofoaluma.

The Tigers winger has joined the Storm on loan until the end of the season and will make his debut this weekend against the Titans.

"Nelson called me and said Craig had mentioned my name to him and he wanted to see where things were at," Maumalo said.

"I saw it as a good opportunity to go and learn in a good system. That was the exciting part of it.

"But I thought of my family and my teammates here. I want to build this club back up to where it was in 2005 and finish this season strong.

"I just said I have family here (in Sydney), it's too much for me. Nofa is the perfect person to go."

Laurie claimed he only discovered the link to the Storm while scrolling through his phone and was never officially contacted by Melbourne.

"I didn't know anything about it," he said, ahead of Sunday's NRL game at Campbelltown against fellow strugglers Newcastle.

"I saw it on Instagram and I was kind of confused because I hadn't heard anything from my manager.

"I would've been shy as (anything) if I had gone down there.

"If that opportunity had come then I probably would've wanted to stay here anyway."