{"id":435187,"date":"2026-01-24T21:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435187\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T21:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:05:12","slug":"lehi-hopoate-breaks-silence-on-sickening-eli-katoa-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435187\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehi Hopoate breaks silence on sickening Eli Katoa hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking for the first time about the pre-match incident at Eden Park, Hopoate told this masthead he would have spoken up if he had his time over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had mixed emotions because I was at fault for what happened to Eli with his first concussion,\u201d Hopoate said.<\/p>\n

\"Eli<\/p>\n

Eli Katoa was on the end of this sickening hit with Lehi Hopoate before the Tonga-New Zealand clash.Credit: Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were both going for the high ball, we didn\u2019t see each other and then clashed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew [he was not well]. I kept checking on him. For him, because he had the red [Tongan] jersey on, he felt like he owed it to the boys [to play].<\/p>\n

\u201cI messaged him a few weeks ago to see how he\u2019s going. I\u2019ve sent him a few gifts. I saw Melbourne did a post about him [on Instagram] being back on the field and running.<\/p>\n

\u201c[As for the social-media abuse], I didn\u2019t fall into that negativity. I was sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

When pressed if he would have encouraged Katoa to sit the game out if faced with the same predicament, Hopoate said: \u201cYeah, definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Katoa should have played was never going to be the responsibility of a teammate who turns 21 on Monday.<\/p>\n

The NRL came down hard<\/a> on two Tongan doctors and two trainers, with penalties ranging from formal warnings to a two-year ban. Some inside the Tongan camp remained frustrated the footage of Katoa and Hopoate colliding was beamed on the TV coverage early in the game, but not relayed to anybody in the coaching box.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

Coach Kristian Woolf was so concerned about Katoa<\/a> that he remained in Auckland for more than a week so he could visit him in hospital each day.<\/p>\n

Hopoate tried to escape the Eden Park drama by heading to Bali for a holiday with friends a few days later, only to arrive at Sydney airport and realise he had left his passport in the washing machine.<\/p>\n

The Manly junior played fullback for Tonga, and while he has been touted as Tom Trbojevic\u2019s No.1 successor on the northern beaches, Hopoate said he was more than content playing left wing outside Tongan teammate Tolu Koula.<\/p>\n

Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold checked in on Hopoate at the time of the Katoa clash and was grateful the youngster had such a healthy support network.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve admired Lehi\u2019s perseverance and resilience since he came into grade,\u201d Seibold said.<\/p>\n

\u201dHe came in for a six-week train-and-trial [at the end of] 2023, he did such a good job we extended it to a 12-week trial, then we extended that so we could take him to Vegas with the NRL squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got our player\u2019s player on debut when we beat the Storm at Brookie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year I want him to concentrate on the wing position; he\u2019s setting himself up to have his best year, which is what we\u2019re aspiring to. He\u2019s just a good kid and is so coachable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking for the first time about the pre-match incident at Eden Park, Hopoate told this masthead he would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-435187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435187","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=435187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}