Melbourne Storm captain Harry Grant ran out for their game against Penrith Panthers with the Fiji flag draped around him in a touching gesture to teammate Tui Kamikamica as he continues his recovery from a stroke.
Storm confirmed on Monday that Kamikamica, 31, had been hospitalised following a suspected stroke.
On Thursday, the club revealed the prop had been discharged — with coach Craig Bellamy telling the media he had exchanged texts with an “ultra positive” Kamikamica.
He was visited in hospital by players and staff following the stroke.
And the Storm offered yet more support to their player on Friday evening when skipper Grant, 28, sprinted out onto the field at the CommBank Stadium while showcasing a Fijian flag.
In response to the heartfelt moment, Storm fan Theresa said on social media: “Harry running out with the Fiji flag, nice little gesture towards teammate Tui.”
The moment came just 24 hours after the Storm faithful received the positive news that Kamikamica had been allowed to leave hospital — and was expected to return to the club and continue his rehab process.
Boss Bellamy said: “I exchanged texts with him there yesterday – he’s always ultra positive. He says he’ll be back soon.”
However, Bellamy refused to be drawn on when Kamikamica could be back on the pitch, and dismissed any speculation surrounding the signing of a replacement forward.
“I’m not going to say whether it’s a year, a month or whatever,” he added.
“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.”
On Wednesday, Storm director of football Frank Ponissi told SEN: “He’s made a remarkable recovery.
“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 Storm.
“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.”
Storm went on to lose 50-10 to the Panthers on Friday night as they suffered their third defeat in five games.
