“For me, taking something out of his book is, no matter what happens in the game, continue to back yourself.”
Now, Katoa will have an opportunity to put those lessons on the paddock, as he and debuting five-eighth Isaiah Iongi launch Tonga’s Pacific Championships campaign against Samoa on Sunday.
The Penrith casualties behind Tongan hopes
Iongi and Katoa once loomed as the Panthers’ future, joined in the junior ranks yet stuck behind premiership heroes Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai and Dylan Edwards.
As they combined at various stages throughout 2022, Penrith won the Jersey Flegg Cup.
“[Katoa] was a good player back then,” Iongi recalled, “and you can tell how much he’s expanded in his game.”
Both were forced to launch their NRL careers elsewhere, and now hold the key to Tonga’s hopes.
Isaiah Iongi will make his debut for Tonga on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images
While Iongi played five-eighth “pretty much all through my juniors”, the Panthers viewed him as a fullback, where he remained upon his defection to Parramatta.
When Luai left for Wests Tigers, his Samoan halves partner Blaize Talagi came from the Eels to fill the void.
But Iongi did not fear he made the wrong move.
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“The best opportunity for me to be playing at NRL level was to move to Parra. It didn’t matter where I’d play, just as long as I was playing there,” he said.
“The decision was purely because of opportunity. Learning under Mitch Moses and Dylan Brown has just allowed my game to expand.
“I’ve matured a lot as a footy player.”
It was the same case for Katoa when he joined an unknown Redcliffe venture.
“I just don’t think I would’ve got the development I’ve got in terms of exposure to first grade. I would have had to sit behind a lot of great halves,” Katoa said.
“I knew for myself I needed to get out of my comfort zone.”
The coach and the maestro
Key to Katoa’s rise has been his rapport with Dolphins and Tonga coach Kristian Woolf, who bestowed him with the Red Sea’s No.7 jersey before he ever featured in the NRL.
Back then, at the 2022 World Cup, he was still completing high school exams between training sessions.
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He believed his and Woolf’s tight bond could trigger a Tongan revolution.
“He’s going to be there to tell me what I need to do right and improve on, but also give me a pat on the back when I need it,” Katoa said.
“That’s the relationship we’ve built, having that respect where I can go up to him and have a conversation about what I see in games and what I’m feeling.
“He’s not a coach who’s just going to tell you what to do all the time. At the end of the day, we’re the players out on the field.”
Reuniting the band
Katoa and Iongi’s reunion at Suncorp Stadium holds the hopes of a nation.
Experience will lean towards Samoa, with both Luai and fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck boasting more NRL caps than Katoa, Iongi and Lehi Hopoate combined.
Katoa is unfazed, lauding Iongi “a freak” whose running game could tear Samoa apart.
And there is a craft Katoa brings that Iongi believes will unlock the Tongan attack, having been credited with more line engagements than any player of the past two seasons.
“How square and straight he plays to square up defenders, I think it will free up space for myself and Lehi at the back and create some opportunities,” Iongi said.
“I see him every week on the highlight reels, so I don’t really have to study much. He’s a very unique player.”
