{"id":259646,"date":"2025-11-03T12:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/259646\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T12:10:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:10:17","slug":"footy-star-undergoes-emergency-brain-surgery-after-suffering-multiple-head-knocks-during-tongas-defeat-by-new-zealand-as-nrl-launches-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/259646\/","title":{"rendered":"Footy star undergoes emergency BRAIN surgery after suffering multiple head knocks during Tonga’s defeat by New Zealand – as NRL launches investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL<\/a> will look into Tonga’s handling of Eliesa Katoa’s head knocks, after the Melbourne star underwent emergency brain surgery after suffering seizures and brain bleeding following three separate knocks in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Katoa was on Monday recovering in an Auckland hospital following surgery, after requiring an oxygen mask on the sideline during Tonga’s 40-14 defeat to New Zealand on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Storm second-rower was first collected by teammate Lehi Hopoate in a pre-match warm-up, but was deemed not to require a head injury assessment (HIA) after being looked at on-field by Tonga medical staff.<\/p>\n

After taking the field, he suffered further friendly fire when his head collided with Will Penisini in the 10th minute, before being taken off and passing a HIA.<\/p>\n

But he suffered a third knock to the head while trying to tackle New Zealand forward Naufahu Whyte in the second half, again resulting in him leaving for a HIA.<\/p>\n

Katoa was then immediately ruled out of the game, as NRL rules dictate that if a player leaves the field for two HIAs they cannot return.<\/p>\n

\"Eliesa <\/p>\n

Eliesa Katoa (right) is understood to be in a stable condition in hospital after undergoing emergency surgery\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Melbourne Storm second-row, 25, published an update from hospital, thanking his followers for their support<\/p>\n

\"Katoa <\/p>\n

Katoa is understood to have suffered seizures after he sustained three head knocks during his side’s loss by New Zealand\u00a0<\/p>\n

AAP understands the 25-year-old suffered bleeding on the brain, but it is believed he isn’t expected to suffer any long-lasting effects.<\/p>\n

‘Eli Katoa was taken to hospital after suffering seizure activity on the bench during the second half of yesterday’s Pacific Championships match between Tonga and New Zealand,’ Melbourne said in a statement.<\/p>\n

‘Eli underwent surgery overnight and is in a stable condition being supported by his partner and mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Storm medical staff remain in close contact with the hospital and Tonga’s team chief medical officer.’<\/p>\n

Katoa is said to be in good spirits and has messaged Storm teammates to thank them for reaching out to him.<\/p>\n

He also took to Instagram on Monday morning to post a photo of several needles in his arm, along with a verse from the Bible.<\/p>\n

‘Appreciate everyone for checking in,’ Katoa said in the Instagram story.<\/p>\n

‘Sorry if I haven’t got back to any of you guys but I really appreciate all the love and the messages Ofa atu (I love you).’<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The NRL will make inquiries into the matter, as will the Rugby League Players’ Association\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tonga coach Kristian Woolf said after Sunday’s game that the doctors had been confident Katoa was fine following the pre-match collision with Hopoate.<\/p>\n

It is understood that replays were not immediately available to Tonga’s staff when Hopoate’s shoulder collected Katoa’s head.<\/p>\n

‘We have two very experienced doctors there, they have done the usual (tests). He has passed all that and passed it well,’ Woolf said.<\/p>\n

‘My job is not to question doctors.<\/p>\n

‘They were both comfortable with that and comfortable with him coming back on to the field.’<\/p>\n

The NRL will make inquiries into the matter, as will the Rugby League Players’ Association.<\/p>\n

‘Ensuring a safe environment for players is the remit of the NRL,’ RLPA chief operating officer Luke Ellis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘So along with our own enquiries, we will be trusting them to work through this and understand what occurred.’<\/p>\n

\"Samoa <\/p>\n

Samoa stars Jarome Luai and Junior Paulo said they were ‘heartbroken’ to see Katoa’s (right) situation, with Paulo stressing the importance of players’ health being put first<\/p>\n

Samoa stars Jarome Luai and Junior Paulo said they were ‘heartbroken’ to see Katoa’s situation, with Paulo stressing the importance of players’ health being put first.<\/p>\n

‘We as footy players will probably never say no to turning up for your country and getting out there and playing,’ Paulo said.<\/p>\n

‘There are protocols around that and should be followed – and they probably were followed.<\/p>\n

‘In terms of putting your health before your job, that’s probably the main outcome that we really want to take out of it.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NRL will look into Tonga’s handling of Eliesa Katoa’s head knocks, after the Melbourne star underwent emergency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,100,761,762,158,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-259646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-national-rugby-league","12":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","13":"tag-nrl","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}