“I don’t know if he’ll play next year … I don’t know if he’ll play again.
“The doctors haven’t made that decision, and I don’t know when that decision will get made, to be quite honest.
“I imagine after a certain amount of time he’ll have more tests and go from there.
“It was a major injury, and we want him to live the rest of his life in a normal way, so fingers crossed.
“But we’d love to have him back playing footy and playing with us. He was one hell of a player.
Katoa last month said he was recovering well and was still eyeing off a return to the Storm squad.
“I just want to let everyone know that I’m healthy now,” he told the Storm website.
“I’ve been training hard the last two or three months with no symptoms, so I’m going great at the moment.”
Bellamy said Katoa continues to work with the squad, taking on a role with the forward pack.
“We’ve given him a role with our edge back rowers to take them under his wing – young Cooper Clarke,” Bellamy said.
“We have to give Eli a lot of wraps for that – even with Joey Chan and Valu [Lisati], he’s helped them out a whole heap as well.
“That’s the good news.”
