Storm boss weights in on ‘out of context’ Katoa comments

Melbourne Storm GM of Football Frank Ponissi has spoken about comments made about Eli Katoa’s playing future.

The back-to-back Dally M Second Rower of the Year was ruled out of the 2026 season after suffering three head knocks during Tonga’s clash against New Zealand, which resulted in a seizure and required brain surgery to resolve.

Given the significance of the injury on the 26-year-old’s life, coach Craig Bellamy admitted he was unsure if Katoa would return to the field ever again.

"I don't know whether he'll play next year. I don't know whether he'll play again," he said on Channel 7's The Agenda Setters: Rugby League.

"The doctors haven't made that decision yet, and I don't know when that decision will get made. After a certain amount of time, he'll have more tests and go from there.

"It was a major injury, and we certainly want El to be able to live the rest of his life in a normal way.

"Fingers crossed, but we'd love to have him back playing footy.”

But as Ponissi explains, it’s simply too early to be making calls on his playing future until Katoa receives further medical advice.

“Nah, not quite,” Ponissi said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.

“I think his comments were taken a little bit out of context from that show.

“One thing about Eli in terms of what he is doing at the moment is fantastic.

“We don’t really know (about his playing future) until he goes to see a surgeon, which is in a couple of months' time.

“At the moment, he’s going really well. He’s positive, he’s great around the group, he’s training as much as he can except for the contact.

“So, he’s ticking all the boxes and that’s all he can do at this stage because until he actually sees a surgeon in May or June, we’ll have a far better idea (around his playing future).”

The Storm are in the midst of gearing up for their Round 4 clash against the North Queensland Cowboys.

That takes place this Saturday at Queensland Country Bank Stadium with kick-off at 7:35pm AEDT.