The recruit, bolter and obvious choice to replace Storm gun… and new role he will play in GF bid

The Storm has vowed to use Eli Katoa’s season-ending injury as motivation for 2026, with an emerging talent in the mix to replace the international superstar as the back-to-back grand finalists aim to prove their doubters wrong.

Katoa has been ruled out for the season following a series of head knocks while playing for Tonga in the Pacific Championships last November.

The Dally M Second Rower of the Year was rushed to hospital in Auckland where he spent a couple of weeks before he returned to Melbourne and was subsequently ruled out by specialists.

But Katoa has been doing light work at training over the past few weeks that has given Storm fans some hope that he could return at some stage this year, while it’s also provided a boost for his teammates.

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“Eli has been around training with us and it’s been a motivation for us,” versatile forward Ativalu Lisati said.

“He’s been going through it tough, so to see him on the field is a motivation for us boys to do a job for him this year.

“The boys have been getting around him and we still joke around with him and laugh, so we’re just treating it like it’s a normal day and like nothing has happened to him.

“The boys are also picking his brain at training because we want to learn stuff from him and take a page from his book and apply it to how we’ll play this year.”

Joe Chan and new recruit Jack Hetherington are options to replace Katoa on the right edge, but Lisati looms as the most logical after a breakout 2025 campaign in which he earnt a bench spot in the grand final loss to Brisbane.

“If that’s where ‘Bellza’ (Storm coach Craig Bellamy) wants me, then that’s what I’ll do because I’ll do anything for him,” Lisati said after doing some of his best work on the left last year.

“Whether he wants me playing on the edge or in the ruck, I just do whatever is best for the team.

“I don’t mind (playing edge or middle). I just want to play.”

Lisati turns 25 later this week and feels a lot more comfortable in the Storm system after learning plenty about himself and team culture during the 2025 pre-season.

He played one game in 2024 but featured in 14 matches last season where he scored a crucial try in the qualifying final victory over the Bulldogs and then came off the bench in the decider.

Lisati was rewarded with a two-year contract extension back in December and has impressed Storm staff over summer after he won the Billy Slater Rookie of the Year Award at the club’s presentation night.

“It was a tough pill to swallow because you want to be holding the trophy up at the end of the game and celebrating with your teammates,” he said of the Brisbane loss.

“But there was still stuff to celebrate with the team because getting to a grand final is an accomplishment. There were a lot of learnings that I can take from that and try to apply those to this year.

“I come from a good club in Penrith, and now I’m at another great club that has accomplished many things over the past two decades.

“I’ve still got a lot to learn here so to secure that deal was pretty surreal. I’m grateful for the opportunities that the club has given me. I’m a big religious man so I’m thankful for what the Lord has provided me throughout these couple of years.”

Lisati will need to step up this year given the quality of players no longer at the club that has led to plenty of pundits predicting the end of Melbourne’s incredible run.

“We’ve lost some great players with Ryan Papenhuyzen, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and others gone,” Lisati said.

“But we’ve got a great group of players who are ready to step in and take those roles.

“We’re confident and we’re just trying to get in as many repetitions at training, and hopefully that can show on the field throughout the year.”