Josh Addo-Carr off the market after signing new deal with Parramatta Eels

“It would be unfair to him and his family to make statements around his short-term or long-term future, other than to say that he has our full support. We’re working really closely with him and his family to getting back to Melbourne and giving every possible opportunity to return to full health first and foremost.

“Then, we can see when he’s ready to return to playing professional sport.”

Katoa is the reigning Dally M second-rower of the year, having won the award in 2024 and 2025. Now he faces a significant recovery.

“The plan at this stage is for him to return to hospital for a period of time for further assessment and to see his specialists,” Rodski said. “What his recovery looks like from there, whether he is discharged home or to some kind of rehabilitation centre – it’s too early to tell.

“We’d love to see him in 2026, he’s probably been in our top two or three players in the past two years, but we’re really focused on Eli and getting him home and getting him recovered. That’s [playing] is a long way from our thinking.”

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Rodski said the Storm wouldn’t prevent players from representing their countries but anticipated some changes to how the national teams operate.

The club have not sought answers from Tonga, and will wait until the NRL investigation delivers its findings.

“We think the Pacific Championships is a wonderful concept of celebrating rugby league and culture, so that’s not something that we’re considering,” Rodski said.

“Whether there’s changes to the way that the NRL governs the present games, the processes, the structures, all those sorts of things, off the back of what’s happened over there, time will tell.”

Meanwhile, Rodski confirmed the Storm would be among those clubs seeking to woo off-contract Titans prop Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.

”We’ll clearly talk to Tino and his management,” he said. “There’s still so many different scenarios there that could or couldn’t impact having Tino back here, but I think every team would love to have him as a part of their squad.”

Addo-Carr off the market after signing new deal with Eels

Adrian Proszenko

Kangaroos star Josh Addo-Carr has taken himself off the NRL open market after recommitting to Parramatta until the end of 2027.

Addo-Carr would have been an obvious high-profile target for the Perth Bears, or any other club, if he wanted to test his value on the open market from November 1.

However, “The Foxx” has opted to stay put after agreeing to terms on a one-year contract extension at the Eels.

Addo-Carr’s career was at a crossroads after Canterbury ripped up his contract last year. But the chance to reunite with coach Jason Ryles – with whom he has previously worked with at Melbourne – has resulted in him producing some of his best football for Parramatta.

The 30-year-old scored 19 tries for the Eels, resulting in a call-up for Australia’s first Ashes tour of England in 22 years. The veteran winger played in all three games and scored a try in the last match as the Kangaroos completed a 3-0 whitewash.

Addo-Carr lost about eight kilograms since moving to Parramatta, which has resulted in him rediscovering his pace. Telstra Tracker data from GPS devices revealed he had clocked a top speed of 36.85km/h in the King’s Birthday clash against former club Canterbury, making him the fastest man in the game in 2025.

Having recently celebrated his 200th NRL appearance, Addo-Carr will now add to the tally with Parramatta over the next two seasons.

In other contract news, Sio Siua Taukeiaho has also agreed to a new one-year deal, with Manly. The premiership-winning Roosters prop made a successful return to the NRL with the Sea Eagles after a stint in the Super League. The new contract will keep him on the Northern Beaches until the end of next season.

‘Lehi is hurting’: John Hopoate says son copping abuse over Katoa clash

Christian Nicolussi

John Hopoate says his son Lehi has been targeted on social media after being involved in a sickening accidental collision with Tonga teammate Eli Katoa earlier this month.

Katoa needed surgery to have fluid drained from his brain after suffering three separate head knocks before and during the match against New Zealand on November 2. The Melbourne Storm backrower remains in hospital in Auckland.

Hopoate has come under fire from trolls who accused him of showing little care after the pair collided while contesting a high ball in the warm-up. TV cameras captured the sickening footage of Katoa being wiped out by the blow, but the vision was not made available to Tonga team officials.

Katoa was cleared to play by a Tonga medico, only to suffer two more head knocks during the game. After being taken from the field after failing a head impact assessment, Katoa then had a seizure on the sidelines and was rushed to hospital with the help of an oxygen machine.

Some of the online abuse directed at Hopoate has prompted fellow players, including New Zealand prop Naufahu Whyte, to come out in support of the 20-year-old.

John Hopoate received his fair share of criticism during his playing career, and said he hopes Lehi can ignore the negativity while praying for Katoa.

“Lehi is hurting, 100 per cent he is – he’s feeling for Eli,” John said. “He’s been copping it from people asking, ‘Why did you take out your teammate?’ and, ‘Why were you trying to take him out with your shoulder?’

“I’m just lucky Lehi doesn’t read any of that crap. I’ve told all my kids they need to have thick skin. That TV footage showed Lehi hitting Eli, but it never showed how both of them were going for the ball.

“Lehi was catching bombs in the warm-up, the backs were doing their own thing, the forwards were doing their own thing, but then Eli chased a bomb out of nowhere. They crashed, but it was completely accidental.

“I watched the whole thing. I thought Eli was in trouble. But he was cleared by two doctors – not one, but two doctors – and how can you [second-guess] what the doctors do?

“Had the docs seen that footage before the game, Eli wouldn’t have played. Every player wants to get on the field, but what do you do when the doctors tell you that you’re OK?”

Katoa has been in daily contact with Storm club medicos and an NRL doctor, and is hoping to be well enough to return to Australia next week.

Tonga coach Kristian Woolf stayed in New Zealand with Katoa for nine days and did not want to fly home until he was confident his player would make a full recovery.

Hopoate said Woolf had been supplying daily updates on Katoa’s recovery to the Tonga squad. “Eli has been texting a few of the boys, and he told me this week he was doing well,” Hopoate said.

The NRL integrity unit has finalised its investigation into why Katoa was allowed to take to the field after appearing to have sustained a concussion in the warm-up, but will not hand down their findings until Katoa is released from hospital – and only once they have spoken to the player himself.

Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed the recommendations could be announced by the end of next week.

Bennett, Gould, Cleary split over radical rule change

Christian Nicolussi and Adrian Proszenko

Some of the biggest names in rugby league are divided over the merits of a proposed change to the rules next season that would oblige scoring teams to take the resulting kick off.

This masthead revealed on Sunday that an NRL competition committee was looking at potential rule tweaks for the 2026 season, with the question of which team should kick off to be one of the top agenda items. Surveys will be sent to all stakeholders, including club CEOs, in the coming weeks.

As it stands, the team that scores a try or kicks a goal receives the kick-off, but some believe a fairer system would be to have the team that concedes points to return the kick-off, which happens in major competitions like the NFL.

Canterbury supremo Phil Gould made his feelings clear about the concept when he took to social media, in response to the Herald’s report. “Whoever it was that regurgitated the concept of the scoring team kicking off in the NRL should be publicly whipped,” Gould wrote on X.

“Please … they tried this rubbish years ago and it was a disaster.”

Four-time premiership winning coach Ivan Cleary was happy for the kick-off rule to remain, and questioned if his Penrith Panthers could have pulled off the miraculous 2023 grand final comeback against the Broncos if they had been forced to kick off rather than receive the ball each time they scored in the final 17 minutes of that decider.

“I think comebacks are really good in the game, and I’m not sure if you get that kind of thing with this rule,” Cleary said.

“When I started watching rugby league, no one would ever come back from 14 points down. Then [Brisbane] did it four weeks in a row.

“As a spectator, if your team’s up by a fair bit, you’re not feeling safe, and you can also feel optimistic if you’re down. I reckon that’s a really good thing.”

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South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett loved when teams received the kick-off after they had just given up points during the Super League, and said it was time to bring it back, purely because it was the fairest system.

Bennett said teams deserved to be punished for poor ball control, but it was important to try and give both sides an even split of possession.

The seven-time premiership winner said Gould resisted change when the competition was unified after the Super League and Australian Rugby League stoush.

“When we re-unified the game after Super League, ‘Gus’ [Gould] knocked it on the head then, he was no fan of it – which is OK, he’s entitled to his opinion. He obviously hasn’t changed his stance,” Bennett said.

“[By having the rule change] it makes it fair, you have equal opportunity with the ball. Ball control has always been important in the game, but it’s distorted because you can score, then you go back and get the ball back.”

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