‘It’s far too early’: Storm star’s future under cloud after new update on serious brain injury

Storm star Eli Katoa is set to be released from a New Zealand hospital in the coming days and head back to Australia, two weeks after suffering three separate head knocks in a Pacific Championships clash.

While playing for Tonga, Katoa had to be administered urgent medical help on the sideline after suffering a seizure before being rushed to hospital in Auckland.

The star edge forward underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.

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Storm CEO Justin Rodski provided a positive update on Katoa, but admitted the Dally M Second Rower of the Year has a long way to go.

“It’s been obviously a really challenging few weeks, both for him, the club, his family and he’s in a stable condition,” Rodski said.

“He’s been improving, which is really pleasing, but he’s still got a long way to go in terms of his short-term, medium-term recovery.

“The next step for us is getting him back to Australia, so we’re hopeful that over the weekend or early next week we can get him back to Melbourne.”

According to Rodski, Katoa will return to hospital in Melbourne and spend a “period of time” under the care of the club’s doctor.

Rodski also answered a question over Katoa’s future in the game

“It’s very early. We haven’t even looked at that at this point,’’ he said.

“We’re just focused on his recovery, his health and his short-term (release from hospital).

“To even speculate at this point in time, it’s far too early.”

The NRL is currently investigating how Katoa was allowed to keep playing after receiving a brutal looking head knock in the warm ups which was missed by Tonga team doctors.

“Clearly it’s a really serious incident and something needs and requires an investigation,” Rodski said.

“We’re really comfortable with the process that the NRL has taken and once that’s concluded we’ll be able to understand the facts and we’ll have all the information about how it happened and why it happened.

“For us, clearly we were concerned. Clearly it was serious. But for now our focus has been about Eli and his recovery.’’