The Melbourne Storm have delivered a critical update on the recovery journeys of two key first-team players, forward Eli Katoa and veteran Tui Kamikamica, both sidelined by serious, career-threatening health incidents in recent months. For 26-year-old Katoa, a two-time Dally M Second-Rower of the Year, the club has confirmed he will not take the field at all during the 2026 NRL season, as he continues to work with a team of specialists and neurosurgeons to map out a potential long-term return to contact rugby league.
Katoa’s health crisis dates back to a November 2025 Test match for Tonga against New Zealand, where he sustained multiple traumatic head impacts. A heavy collision before the match already should have ruled him out of action, but the star forward was permitted to play, and suffered two additional blows to the head that left him with life-threatening brain bleeding requiring emergency surgery. He has not played a professional match since that day.
In the months following his emergency surgery, Katoa has progressed to taking part in low-intensity, non-contact training drills, and remains a constant presence around the club daily. Still, club leadership confirmed that his recovery is moving slower than hoped, and any return to contact training — the first required step to a full playing comeback — remains uncertain. The earliest possible return fans could see Katoa back on the field would be the 2027 NRL season, and that outcome is still far from guaranteed.
“Eli won’t play this year,” Melbourne Storm chief executive Justin Rodski confirmed to NewsWire. “He’s still going through his recovery process and continuing to try to build up through a training point of view, but it’s all non-contact. He’ll continue to work with his specialists and neurosurgeons around a plan for phasing him back into more and more training. In terms of when that is and whether or not that includes contact training in the near future, we simply do not know so we just have to be patient and continue to listen to the medical experts.”
Rodski emphasized that the club is prioritizing Katoa’s long-term health over a rushed return to the field, noting the star’s unwavering drive to get back to playing. “Eli is so keen to get back out there and play. He’s at training and the club every day, but we can’t rush his return and we need to ensure that we’ve done everything right and followed the medical process,” Rodski said. “I think over the coming months we’ll start to get a clearer picture on what that could look like, and hopefully there is a path to return to some contact training at some point down the track. But at this stage we’re still waiting to get that confirmation.”
The club has rallied around Katoa as he navigates an uncertain recovery, Rodski added. “We’ve been getting around him and giving him all the support he needs because it’s hard for any player being on the sidelines. For Eli, having the uncertainty on what that actually looks like makes it even more difficult. We couldn’t have more respect for a person because he’s such a wonderful leader in the organisation. We’ve missed him on the field, but it’s been great to have him around off the field. We’re all hopeful that we get some positive news over the coming months that there’s a plan for his return.”
The Katoa announcement comes just after the Storm confirmed another devastating season-ending injury: representative winger Xavier Coates suffered a full Achilles rupture during a training session that will rule him out of all 2026 matches.
For Kamikamica, the club’s other sidelined forward, there is more cautious optimism for a 2026 return. The veteran forward suffered a stroke after the Storm’s round four loss to the North Queensland Cowboys earlier this season, and has since resumed full training as he works toward clearance from medical experts.
“Tui is so keen to get back out there, but we’re waiting on further medical advice to give him the all clear,” Rodski said. “He’s back into training, he’s around the club, he’s energetic and passionate as ever to return, but he’s gone through a serious ordeal so we need to make sure that we’ve done everything right to tick every box from a medical point of view to clear him to be able to play again this season. Unfortunately, we don’t know when that might be, and he’s still going through some testing. Until we’ve got that medical approval and clearance, he’s just going to continue to train and be around the club.”