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"It's heart-breaking": Storm give update on Katoa after brain surgery
SEN • November 14th, 2025 1:40 pm
Melbourne Storm refused to speculate on the future of Eliesa Katoa as he continues to recover from brain surgery in an Auckland hospital with the club saying it is a day-by-day situation.
Distressing vision of the Storm star being attended to by medical staff and teammates on the sideline during Tonga's clash with the Kiwis went viral earlier this week.
It emerged Katoa had sustained a significant head knock during the warm-up but had not undergone a pre-match HIA. He went on to require two further assessments during the match before being taken off after 51 minutes.
It was while sitting on the sidelines that his condition deteriorated and he was taken with an oxygen mask to hospital where he underwent surgery to ease pressure on his brain.
Asked how the 25-year-old was doing, Storm CEO Justin Rodski said: “Eli is stabilised which is the most important part of this, we have been focused on his health and welfare.
“Supporting him and his family through what’s been a really challenging period. He’s been in hospital since the incident.
“The good news is he is stable. He has improved and we are grateful for the work of the doctors over there. Next step is to get him back to Australia to see some specialists here and continue his recovery. That’s’ where it sits.
“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Just continue his recovery without any projections about where this will land.
“It’s a terribly heart-breaking incident for him and his family and the club. We will take it step by step.”
There has been furious backlash in the wake of the incident with one former player calling on those responsible to lose their jobs.
Warriors legend Shaun Johnson was staggered that Katoa was given the green light to play despite the pre-game incident.
“I feel a bit angry about the situation,” he said on the Play on Sport Show.
“I don’t get how it can even get to that point, but from a player’s view, we just hope that Eli’s all good. Anyone that’s been in that situation or has seen teammates in that situation, it’s the worst thing to see.
“I’m just going to say it – there is going to be fallout over this. There are going to be some heads that are rolled because I do not know how Eli Katoa was allowed to take the field.
“In warm-up, he has a shoulder to the head…loose body to the ground. All I thought straight away when I saw that was if that happened in a game or if that happened at training during the week, he’s done and they’d probably go category one on it so he wouldn’t even sit an HIA and would be done.”
The NRL has launched an investigation into the incident but will not release the findings until Katoa is out of hospital.
