![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762178477_204_r1569151_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAfter 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 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
AAP understands Katoa suffered bleeding on the brain, but it’s 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.<\/p>\n
“Storm medical staff remain in close contact with the hospital and Tonga’s team chief medical officer.”<\/p>\n
Eliesa Katoa of Tonga is attended to by a trainer.\u00a0Hannah Peters\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The NRL also confirmed on Monday the matter was under investigation.<\/p>\n
“Our first priority is the health of Eliesa Katoa,” an NRL spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“The NRL chief medical officer is monitoring his condition and is in close contact with the medical experts involved.<\/p>\n
“The NRL is currently reviewing the circumstances of Sunday’s events in line with usual practice.”<\/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 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
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.<\/p>\n
“So along with our own enquiries, we will be trusting them to work through this and understand what occurred.”<\/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 suffered seizure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-259804","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-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259804","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=259804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}