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Ask the Melbourne Storm about Eliesa Katoa, and the answer will haunt Warriors fans.

The Auckland club often get criticised for missing out on local talent, or failing to see potential where others might. Sometimes it is justified and other times not, as recruitment and retention is a complicated puzzle and there are many reasons why an individual could thrive at a different club, or might need a change of environment.

But Katoa, who will be a key figure in Sunday’s clash with the Warriors in Melbourne, is one that got away. He left at the end of the 2022 season, granted an early release to sign with the Storm, amid additional interest from the North Queensland Cowboys and Redcliffe Dolphins. Since then Katoa has soared. He was a big factor in the Storm’s grand final run last season and has contributed 20 tries and 27 linebreaks in 50 appearances for the Melbourne team.

“He’s been one of our best buys in recent times,” Storm director of football Frank Ponissi told the Herald. “Honestly, he has been extraordinary. His first season was very good, but last year he took it to another level, one of the best second rowers in the competition. We couldn’t be happier with him. He’s been exceptional for us.”

To illustrate his progress, the 25-year-old was recently promoted in to Melbourne’s senior leadership group. It was based on player votes but Ponissi said coach Craig Bellamy “was keen to put him in anyway”, after last season. Recruitment boss Paul Bunn had recommended the young Warrior to Bellamy and Ponissi during the 2022 season.

”He told us he was a player who could cover the loss of Felise Kaufusi,” said Ponissi. “But he has probably gone beyond our expectations.”

Ponissi and Bellamy met Katoa in Auckland in late July 2022. Katoa was under contract until the end of 2024 but had been given permission to talk to other clubs.

”Based on what we’d seen in the video, watching him play and meeting him, it was an easy decision,” said Ponissi. “He was very engaging and we walked away very impressed just as a young man, let alone what we had seen on the video.”

Katoa was good in 2023, before his breakthrough last year, part of a lethal right edge. He averaged 115 running metres and 30 tackles, along with 54 tackle busts and 27 offloads across the season. Watching that form has been tough for Warriors fans, given his size, physical presence, footwork, aerial threat and offloading ability.

Former Warrior Eliesa Katoa. Photo / Photosport

His departure came at a strange time. Katoa’s entire Warriors’ career was during the crazy Covid period, where the team was based in Australia for three seasons and he only experienced three Mt Smart matches across his 46 Warriors’ games. He had four head coaches; Stephen Kearney, Todd Payten, Nathan Brown and Stacey Jones (interim). Katoa did well under Kearney and Payten but struggled to find his best during Brown’s tenure, when the likes of Jack Murchie, Bayley Sironen and Euan Aitken were selected ahead of him.

Katoa was seen as a future superstar, having made a blazing start to his NRL career in 2020. But that brought its own pressures, especially as he was on a steep learning curve, having only played his first league match in mid-2019. Despite that, his potential seemed obvious. In May 2020, after a two-year contract extension, Kearney described him as “a really important part of the club’s future” while then-head of athletic performance Craig Twentyman gushed about his physical ability.

”His strength, power and size are obviously massive attributes for him. What further enhances his physical profile is his aerobic capacity and power and that gives him the ability to repeat high-intensity efforts right throughout a game.”

His exit in early August 2022 was at a time of flux, with coach Andrew Webster and recruitment manager Andrew McFadden yet to start in their roles. There were mitigating factors, with Marata Niukore and Mitch Barnett due to arrive in 2023 and Josh Curran at the club. Katoa had only made seven starts that season, with a further eight interchange appearances, but it still felt like a regrettable situation.

”Katoa ticks most boxes in terms of character and talent,” I wrote in a Herald column at the time. “[He] just needs to develop, with time invested in him because his ceiling could be anything.”

Of course, without the Covid pandemic, which left the Warriors uprooted and bereft of a reserve grade team, along with the coaching carousel, things might have been different. And there is confidence that such a talent wouldn’t slip through now, with the systems in place.

”I never make any judgment on other clubs,” said Ponissi, when asked about the Warriors’ decision. “Sometimes we let players go or don’t re-sign them, and they’re for particular reasons. Managing lists is a really challenging area. From the outside looking in, it’s easy, but when you’re inside the four walls of an NRL club, it’s different. Sometimes, there’s priorities on who you can retain due to positional needs; you might be strong in one area and not as strong in another. We’ve been in the same position and had to make similarly tough decisions.”

On Sunday, the Warriors face their biggest test of the season so far. Coming off a bye – with an unchanged squad – it feels like a good time to play Melbourne, while lock Erin Clark will celebrate his 100th NRL game. But it will be a stern examination, particularly for the Warriors’ spine, with the kicking and territory game vital against the Storm who are clinical, masters at taking their chances and adept at pushing the limits of the rules.

Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. He has also reported on the Warriors and NRL for more than a decade.