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Eli Katoa says he wanted to play for the Wallabies rather than the Melbourne Storm but took a chance on rugby league to support his family back in Tonga.
Growing up in the tiny, remote Tongan village of Koulo, Eli Katoa had big dreams.
But rather than the dream of winning a NRL premiership with the Melbourne Storm, Katoa wanted to play for the Wallabies.
The 24-year-old looked to follow in the footsteps of another Tongan great, Willie Ofahengaue; a burly backrower who played in two World Cups.
"When I grew up in Tonga, my uncle who I was named after, supported Australia and so I supported the Wallabies and even when I moved to New Zealand, I still wanted to play for the Wallabies," Katoa told AAP.
"Guys like 'Willie O', those are the well-known names in Tonga, those guys that play for the Wallabies, and I always wanted to become one of those and always looked up to them and wanted to follow their footsteps."
As a 16-year-old, Katoa took up a rugby union scholarship at a school in Auckland but the move was tinged with sadness.
His father died suddenly when he was 11, with the youngster realising that the best way of supporting his family, his mother Akanesi, two sisters and a brother, was through sport.
"It was hard as everyone was still back in Tonga and I had to move to New Zealand but I sort of understand it," he said.
"My dad passed away and my mum couldn't go to work because we were still young and had to stay at home and look after us.
"I just felt like that was the best way of helping her and my other siblings to have a better life, and I'm grateful that it turned out that way, now that I'm the main provider for the family."
He was spotted by the Warriors, making his NRL debut in 2020 after just 13 games of rugby league, but after three tough years impacted by COVID-restrictions on the Auckland club, he was released to join the Storm.
In his first season in Melbourne in 2023 he cracked the Tongan team and played two Tests against England.
But this year Katoa has taken his game to a new level, particularly in attack, scoring double the tries from his first year with 12 so far.
He is quick to credit players around him, like playmaker Jahrome Hughes, as well as retired Storm second-row great Ryan Hoffman, who regularly offers advice.
"It's easy for me to play outside someone like Hughesy, who might be winning the Dally M at the end of the year, so I just do my job," Katoa said.
"The players around me, they do all the work for me and I just happen to be in the right place and put the ball down."
Koulo, on the island of Lifuka, is a 12-14 hour boat ride from Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa, and has a population of a less than 200 hundred people.
With only a few televisions in the village, many, including his brother and sisters, gather at the Katoa house when the rising Storm star is playing, but not always his mum.
Katoa said the pair were very close, talking every day, but Akanesi was too worried he would get hurt to watch regularly.
Last year he almost lost the sight in an eye when he got a tear in his retina, which required surgery and for him to spend a week laying face down on a massage table and then on the sidelines for six games.
"She doesn't really watch every game - sometimes she gets scared if I hit too hard or get injured, she doesn't enjoy it," he said.
His family spent three months in Melbourne last year but they won't be in the stands for the preliminary final against the Sydney Roosters, or even the grand final if they advance, with plans for Katoa to head back to Tonga for Christmas.
Close to Fijian-born prop Tui Kamikamica and Kiwi winger Will Warbrick, Katoa often enjoys a slice of his island home, sharing kava with his teammates.
He said he'd even enticed Storm skipper Harry Grant to join in.
"We're pretty tight as a group here - ever since I moved here everyone has helped me and I count on these guys as family," Katoa said,
"On our days off we go for a coffee or a feed, do stuff outside of footy and that what brings us tight together and we love a good time."
