He was good enough to be selected for Wellington representative teams and even played at Athletic Park before his father was transferred again and the family moved back to Australia.
Fast forward nearly 20 years and Hoffman is returning to live in New Zealand after signing a three-year deal worth a reported A$1.6 million ($1.7 million) with the Warriors.
The second-rower is a good signing for the club, and one it trumpeted as "one of the most significant in the club's history" because of his experience, leadership and quality.
The 30-year-old has played 229 NRL games, as well as 34 for Wigan in 2011, and notched five tests (2007-09 and 2012) and eight State of Origin appearances for NSW (2007-09 and 2012-14).
He sits behind only Cameron Smith, Matt Geyer, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk in terms of Melbourne appearances and four of those were in grand finals (2006, 07, 09, 12) - missing a fifth in 2008 through injury.
The Storm, though, are coming to the end of an era. Coach Craig Bellamy, who has transformed them into one of the standout clubs of the past decade, has said he will retire from coaching after his current contract and Smith, Slater and Cronk are into their 30s.
The club announced this week it had re-signed Kiwi Tohu Harris until the end of 2017 and is also keen to retain Kevin Proctor, who is a target of a number of clubs.
Hoffman said he was surprised to be approached by the Warriors about three weeks ago but the more he heard, the more it made sense.
"The Warriors showed from the start they were very keen to have me," he says.
"Some things are too good to refuse. It will be a new chapter in my rugby league career, in my life, and one I hope is very successful."
He enjoyed tremendous success with Melbourne but some of that has been rubbed out because of the club's breaches of the salary cap, which saw their titles of 2007 and 2009 stripped.
"It was bloody awful," Hoffman says.
"The biggest thing was they might have taken away the titles but all our memories of those days will always stay with us. I know what happened on those days. We held the trophy up and that hasn't changed. I still have the memories and the DVDs and it is something I will always hold dear.
"It's probably something that galvanised us as a group. That 2010 team was a very special group of players who got through that year [when they couldn't win competition points]. What we achieved when we didn't have a right to do anything was a testament to the Storm as a club, Craig Bellamy as a coach and to what we held together. That put us in good stead for 2012,when we won the premiershipagain."
Hoffman will be in familiar company when he relocates to Auckland. Not only did he play with interim coach Andrew McFadden at Melbourne when he made his NRL debut in 2003, and the pair have kept in touch since, but he also played with Dane Nielsen and Nathan Friend at the Storm as well as Sam Tomkins and Thomas Leuluai in his short stint at Wigan.
The club is trying to develop its own talent but often needs to supplement it with hardened Australians. Hoffman is that.
He's also one of the NRL's most prolific try-scoring forwards with a total of 56 - only Manly's Anthony Watmough of today's forwards has scored more - and last season averaged 122m and 26 tackles.
"I have been around rugby league a long time and seen a lot of things so hopefully I can translate some of what I have experienced to the Warriors," he says. "I am one of the most experienced players but if you don't lead by your actions players aren't going to follow you. I have to earn the respect of the Warriors players and need to do that by my actions."
Ryan Hoffman
• Born: January 26, 1984
• Birthplace: Woden Valley, ACT
• Position: Second row
• Height: 192cm
• Weight: 105kg
• Junior club: Campbelltown Collegians
• Previous clubs: Melbourne Storm 2003-2010 & 2012-2014, Wigan Warriors 2011
• NRL debut: Melbourne v Manly, Brookvale Oval, April 20, 2003 (Round 6)
• NRL career: 229 appearances 2003-2010 & 2012-2014
• NRL points: 224 points (56 tries)
• Super League debut: Wigan v St Helens, Millennium Stadium, February 12, 2011
(Round 1)
• Super League career: 34 appearances (29 Super League, 5 Challenge Cup)
• Super League points: 44 points (11 tries)
• Representative: 5 tests for Australia 2007-2009 & 2012, 8 State of Origin matches for New South Wales 2007-2008 & 2013, 7 matches for City Origin 2006-2007, 2009-2010 & 2012-2014
• Honours: NRL grand final winner with Melbourne 2007 (withdrawn), 2009 (withdrawn), 2012, World Club Challenge winner with Melbourne 2013; Challenge Cup winner with Wigan 2013
