{"id":738836,"date":"2026-06-15T22:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/738836\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T22:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:06:11","slug":"nrl-2026-daily-news-and-updates-eli-katoa-speaks-about-his-road-to-recovery-from-brain-injury-will-he-play-again-melbourne-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/738836\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Daily, news and updates, Eli Katoa speaks about his road to recovery from brain injury, will he play again, Melbourne Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eli Katoa admits there\u2019s still a cloud of uncertainty hanging over his NRL career, with the next few months set to be key.<\/p>\n<p>Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports |<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kayosports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Katoa, who suffered a life threatening brain bleed during a Pacific Championships game for Tonga last year, will be sidelined for the entire 2026 season at the very least. <\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The star backrower has been a constant presence at Storm training as he continues his \u201c long road\u201d to recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing on Channel 7 show The Agenda Setters on Monday, Katoa says he\u2019s content with his recovery but still faces a few nervous moments over the coming weeks with doctors ultimately to make the final call on whether he plays again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dIt\u2019s going to be tough,\u2019\u2019 Katoa said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been going well with my recovery. There\u2019s still a long head to go, but like I said, my goal is to do whatever I can do to come back and play the game again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of support around me, obviously with Melbourne and the medical staff and obviously the boys and the coaching staff as well, which has been so good for me and I\u2019m really grateful about that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things going into it. If you talk about yes or no answers here, I\u2019m thinking about my family as well. But for what I\u2019m doing now, it\u2019s just controlling of what I can do, whether it\u2019s getting flogged at training or helping out the boys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know if I just do my bit, the thing that I can control, and hopefully that can go a long way, but in terms of that, we don\u2019t know the answers yet, so let\u2019s just hope for the best.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Is &#8216;Kung-Fu Kalyn&#8217; a ticking bomb | 03:14<\/p>\n<p>MORE NRL NEWS<\/p>\n<p>TALKING POINTS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/nrl\/nrl-premiership\/nrl-2026-the-biggest-talking-points-from-round-15-results-brisbane-broncos-fall-from-grace-dolphins-premiership-odds\/news-story\/427efd43d095993f24bea483b5d9765d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">\u2018Devastating\u2019 Luai truth; shock rise sparks big Eels halves dilemma<\/a><\/p>\n<p>CRAWLS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/nrl\/nrl-premiership\/nrl-2026-opinion-and-analysis-problem-with-reaction-to-ashley-klein-gambling-addiction-should-he-referee-origin-michael-maguire-future-as-brisbane-broncos-coach-paul-crawley\/news-story\/b47377f36d851d54816a050d6e7acce7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Facts clear in Klein case; Madge\u2019s glaring dressing room question<\/a><\/p>\n<p>TEAM TIPS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/nrl\/nrl-premiership\/nrl-2026-tom-dearden-and-tom-trbojevic-to-make-returns-from-injury-clubs-sweat-on-origin-representatives-injury-and-suspension-team-news-team-tips-nrl-news\/news-story\/248721da748880689456525849c324f8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Broncos injury drama continues; Tigers\u2019 fresh setback <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Katoa suffered three brutal head knocks before and during Tonga\u2019s clash with New Zealand last November, which attributed to a scary sideline seizure. <\/p>\n<p>Katoa was rushed to hospital and underwent brain surgery, with the 26-year-old ruled out for the 2026 season soon after.<\/p>\n<p>The sickening pre-game head knock Katoa copped wasn\u2019t reported to coaches. As a result, two-year bans have been proposed for three Tonga staff members, including the team\u2019s head doctor and trainer.<\/p>\n<p>However, Katoa isn\u2019t interested in placing blame on anyone for his ordeal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously my goal is just to come back and play and there\u2019s no point for me to look back and try to see what should have happened and what we could have done better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s already happened and lucky enough I\u2019m still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eli Katoa admits there\u2019s still a cloud of uncertainty hanging over his NRL career, with the next few&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-738836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}