Josh King feels Melbourne have got the young blood in house to try and cover the loss of Eliesa Katoa, with his Storm teammate making good progress in his rehabilitation after brain surgery.
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The star second-rower suffered three head knocks in 90 minutes while on representative duty with Tonga and later underwent surgery on a brain bleed.
Three members of Tonga's medical staff are facing possible two-year bans over the handling of the injuries following an NRL investigation.
The 25-year-old is amazingly already back running but Melbourne don't plan to budge on the decision to rule Katoa out of the 2026 season.
King said it was tough to watch Katoa's injury unfold.
"It's not just your own teammate, you don't want to see that happen to anyone but Els (Katoa) is back up and on the right track now," the Storm prop said.
"The most important thing is that he gets his health right and we will have that chat around footy later on and that will be something that evolves over time and we will see how his rehab goes."
While Dally M second-rower Katoa will leave large hole, King said Melbourne had players ready and waiting for a starting role.
He named Ativalu Lisati and Joe Chan, while Frank Howarth, the highly-rated younger brother of centre Jack, has been doing pre-season training with the top squad.
"We've got a really good young crop coming through the Storm academy program," King said.
"Being able to train with the big boys for a few extra years really helps in your development.
"We've seen last year we've got a few guys coming through, Valu (Lisati) and Joey Chan are probably really ready to be full-time first graders, so we're certainly not short of good players."
King was also a fan of new recruit Jack Hetherington, who joined from the Knights and is able to play in the second row or cover prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who has taken up a boxing career.
"Jack was with Newcastle for a few years after I left and obviously I've got some mates back there, so I've crossed paths with 'Heathero' a few times, and he's a great bloke," the 30-year-old said.
"He fits straight into our culture, and he's a good person, and I think he's certainly got a fair bit of rugby league in him, and he offers a bit of that punch and impact that we're probably looking for.
"He's certainly got a fair bit of aggression and if he's able to use that in a controlled manner, that'd be really valuable for us."
Despite successive grand final losses and some off-season turmoil with Katoa and gun fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen departing, King said the mood at the club was upbeat.
"I've only been back for two days, and it's a really young group to start back with and, they're hungry.
"It's disappointing to lose two grand finals, but it's pretty cool that two years in a row we were in the top two teams out of 17 each year, so that's something we can certainly take away as a positive."
Australian Associated Press
