Sione Katoa (born 26 January 1995) is a

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who last played for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

. He previously played for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

Background

Katoa was born in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington is Capital of New Zealand, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the List of cities in New Zealand, third-largest city ...

, and is of

n and Cook Island descent, and attended

St. Bernard's College, Lower Hutt St Bernard's College (often abbreviated to SBC or SBC183) is a Catholic year 7 to 13 (form 1 to 7) secondary school for boys located at 183 Waterloo Rd, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. The school was opened by the Marist Brothers in 1946. Ye ...

. He came from a rugby background and played all of his junior rugby at Avalon Junior RFC. He represented rugby at Hutt and Wellington age grades before deciding to try rugby league. Most of his junior league was played at the Randwick Kingfishers and Upper Hutt Tigers, before moving to Australia and being signed by the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

. He played junior rugby league for the Glenmore Park Brumbies in the

Penrith District Rugby League The Penrith District Junior Rugby League (PDJRL) is an Australian amateur rugby league competition for senior and junior rugby league clubs in the Penrith, Blacktown, and Blue Mountains area. History The competition was founded in 1912 and ...

. His brother Isaiya Katoa is a fellow Tonga international.

Playing career

Early career

In 2013, Katoa joined the

and played for their NYC team in 2014 and 2015.

2015

In 2015, Katoa graduated on to the Panthers'

New South Wales Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

team and captained the side later. On 2 May, he played for the

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Sup ...

against the

Junior Kangaroos The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name. Since 2019, they are an under-23 side, with players selected from the NRL. Th ...

. On 10 June, he re-signed with the Panthers on a 2-year contract. In Round 26 of the

2015 NRL season The 2015 NRL season was the 108th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 18th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, which was followe ...

, he made his

debut for the Panthers against the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

. On 11 September, he was named in the 58-man

squad to play the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

on 17 October.

2016

In February, Katoa played for the Panthers in the 2016 NRL Auckland Nines. On 7 May, he made his international debut for Tonga against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

in the 2016

Polynesian Cup The Polynesian Cup is a rugby league football test match played between Samoa and Tonga first played in 2010. The matches in 2015, 2016 and 2018 were played as double-headers with the Melanesian Cup. Results See also *Polynesia Cup – sim ...

2017

Katoa was a member of the

side that won the 2017

Intrust Super Premiership NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

and the 2017

NRL State Championship The NRL State Championship is a rugby league match contested by the premiers of the two elite second-tier competitions in Australia, the New South Wales Cup and the Queensland Cup. The match has been played as a curtain-raiser to the NRL Grand ...

2018

Katoa made 20 appearances for Penrith in the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 team ...

as the club finished 5th and reached the elimination final before being defeated by Cronulla-Sutherland 21-20 at the

Sydney Football Stadium Sydney Football Stadium may refer to: * Sydney Football Stadium (1988), the original stadium which was demolished in 2019. * Sydney Football Stadium (2022) Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, i ...

2019

Katoa made a total of 15 appearances for Penrith in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

as the club finished 10th on the table and missed out on the finals for the first time since 2015.. It was a disappointing end to the season for Penrith as they had been tipped by many to reach the finals series and be one of the contenders for the premiership. At one stage of the season, the club sat last on the table before a mid-season revival lifted them off the bottom to finish just outside the finals places. In September 2019, Katoa signed a two-year deal to join

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in Inner South-Western Sydney. The region is located to the north of the St George region (from which it is separated by Wolli Creek) and to the south of the Inner West region ...

2020 & 2021

On 31 August, Katoa was one of twelve players who were told by Canterbury that they would not be offered a contract for the 2022 season and would be released at seasons end.

References

External links

Penrith Panthers profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katoa, Sione 1995 births Living people Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Junior Kiwis players New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent New Zealand rugby league players Penrith Panthers players People educated at St Bernard's College, Lower Hutt Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Lower Hutt Tonga national rugby league team players Tongan rugby league players