NRL 2026: Storm star Tui Kamikamica released from hospital

The veteran prop underwent treatment in hospital, where he was visited by players and Storm staff, with the Fijian skipper expected to return to the club and continue his rehab process.

Bellamy said the news about Kamikamica sent a shockwave through the club, and he texted the ever-positive Storm forward during his rehab.

“I exchanged texts with him there yesterday – he’s always ultra positive,” Bellamy said.

“He says he’ll be back soon.”

The club thanked the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Ambulance Victoria for taking outstanding care of Kamikamica and extended appreciation to all those who were supporting him and his family.

“(Given) the build on him, how fit he is, how strong he is, at that age to suffer from that illness, it was a shock to everybody.

“Over the last couple of days the news has been a bit more positive than what it was.”

It’s unclear when Kamikamica will be cleared to return to the field given the serious nature of the injury.

Bellamy could not be drawn on when he would be fit to return and has not yet considered going to market for a replacement forward.

“I’m not going to say whether it's a year a month or whatever,” he said.

“At the end of the day, I don’t know, and with all due respect, we’re not concerned about that.

“I didn’t think of (recruiting) myself actually. At the moment we are just concerned with hopefully Tui making a full recovery.”

Storm director of football Frank Ponissi had earlier confirmed that the issue wasn’t related to footy.

“He’s made a remarkable recovery,” Ponissi told SEN on Wednesday.

“He’s still got a long way to go, but in terms of where he was Monday morning after his medical episode and (being) rushed to hospital, it’s quite remarkable.

“He’s getting released from hospital today into some rehab, so he’ll go to a rehab centre and start some more rehab but also get assessed.

“The doctors have ruled out anything coming from the game or travel or any conditions like that. It’s purely a medical episode that he had an underlying issue, but as I said, remarkable recovery in such a short period of time.”

Teammate and former housemate Will Warbrick said he was “emotional and rattled” when he first heard the news but was put at ease when Kamikamica cracked a joke when he visited him at hospital.

Fellow prop forward Josh King said the news put things in perspective for a Storm side that will play Penrith on Friday night on the back of two defeats.

“For us, it’s a timely reminder how precious life is and how you can sometimes take your health for granted,” he said.

“Tui is a fit young man so you’d never think that something like that could happen to him.

“For us after two losses, you probably think how there are other important things in life other than just football.”

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