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Eli Katoa's ability to turn a game on its head with a spectacular leap or line break is enough to make him a favourite with his Storm teammates but his impact on Craig Bellamy's group runs much deeper.
Now in his third season at the Storm after spending three years at the Warriors, the 25-year-old has developed into one of the NRL's elite back-rowers, and his array of skills were on full show as Melbourne overran the Sharks on Sunday.
Katoa set up tries for Jahrome Hughes and Nick Meaney with spectacular kick-chase efforts as well as running for 145 metres in the 30-6 victory.
“It’s great to play alongside Eli. I think everyone would say he’s up there as their favourite teammate,” said captain Harry Grant.
“He brings a lot to the group culturally... it's pretty cool to see his journey from Tonga - [he] left for better opportunities to New Zealand, and now he’s made it here to Melbourne.
“He brings that into work every day, into the club every day - that he’s doing it for more than just himself, [he’s doing it for] his family and that’s the opportunity that he’s been given. It’s infectious and it rubs off on the group.”
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NRL Best Moments – Round 17
Katoa told NRL.com after the game that his success is all about the mentality to always look for the ball.
“Craig always tells us to compete for everything. When it goes up, I just try and get there, get up, and compete,” he said.
“I don’t know where I got the aerial ability from. It’s just the mentality that I have these days, just to compete - whether we have the ball, if I have to run for it, whatever. Always compete.”
He has set up a formidable right-side partnership with last year’s Dally M Medal winner Hughes, who laid on Katoa's try with a sublime pass before the back-rower returned the favour late in the game.
“It makes my job easy when Jahrome's going good,” said Katoa.
“When we start running the ball, get the ball into his hands, he can set up tries and do amazing things for us.”
Veteran mentor Bellamy has worked with plenty of high-class back-rowers during his time at the Storm and holds the Tongan-born Katoa in high esteem.
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Storm v Sharks – Round 17, 2025
“He's one talented athlete, to be quite honest. But he's also got that want drive to work hard, and make sure that ability that he's got, he can produce it each and every week,” Bellamy said.
“He’s one bloke that never, ever lets us down. To come up with a couple of his plays today - they were massive plays, and there's not too many back-rowers in the game that could do what he did today.”