Sione Katoa (rugby league, born 1995)

Sione Katoa (born 26 January 1995) is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL.

For the Cronulla Sharks player, see Sione Katoa (rugby league, born 1997).
Sione Katoa
Personal information
Full nameSione Utia-Katoa[1][2]
Born (1995-01-26) 26 January 1995
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight93 kg (14 st 9 lb)
Playing information
PositionHooker, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2015–19 Penrith Panthers 48 0 0 0 0
2020– Canterbury Bulldogs 0 0 0 0 0
Total 48 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016–19 Tonga 11 1 0 0 4
2019– Tonga 9s 3 0 0 0 0
As of 20 October 2019
Source: [3]

He previously played for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League.

Background

Katoa was born in Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand, and is of Tongan[4] and Cook Island descent, and attended St. Bernard's College in Lower Hutt.

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.[5][6] He played junior rugby league for the Glenmore Park Brumbies in the Penrith District Rugby League and attended Patrician Brothers Blacktown, playing a part in the team that won the grand final for the 2012 GIO Schoolboy Cup.

Playing career

Early career

In 2013, Katoa joined the Penrith Panthers[2] and played for their NYC team in 2014 and 2015.[7][8]

2015

In 2015, Katoa graduated on to the Panthers' New South Wales Cup team and captained the side later.[9] On 2 May, he played for the Junior Kiwis against the Junior Kangaroos.[10] On 10 June, he re-signed with the Panthers on a 2-year contract.[11] In Round 26 of the 2015 NRL season, he made his NRL debut for the Panthers against the Newcastle Knights.[12] On 11 September, he was named in the 58-man Tonga squad to play the Cook Islands on 17 October.[4]

2016

In February, Katoa played for the Panthers in the 2016 NRL Auckland Nines.[13] On 7 May, he made his international debut for Tonga against Samoa in the 2016 Polynesian Cup.[14]

2017

Katoa was a member of the Penrith Panthers side that won the 2017 Intrust Super Premiership NSW and the 2017 NRL State Championship.[15][16]

2018

Katoa made 20 appearances for Penrith in the 2018 NRL season as the club finished 5th and reached the elimination final before being defeated by Cronulla-Sutherland 21-20 at the Sydney Football Stadium.[17]

2019

Katoa made a total of 15 appearances for Penrith in the 2019 NRL season 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.[18]

In September 2019, Katoa signed a two-year deal to join Canterbury-Bankstown.[19]

References
  1. "Sg Ball Team Lists - Round Five". NSWRL. Archived from the original on 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  2. "SG Ball Cup - GRAND FINAL- Rnd 13 - Penrith PANTHERS v Balmain TIGERS - 1st Half Action Photo Gallery". Ourfootyteam.com. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  3. "Sione Katoa - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. 1995-01-26. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
  4. "Tonga Squad Announced". Rugby League Week. 2015-09-11. Archived from the original on 2015-09-14. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  5. "NSW CCC Rugby 2012". Green and Gold Rugby. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  6. "Sione Katoa - Panthers". Penrithpanthers.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  7. "K". Nyc Database. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  8. "Panthers set to unleash debutants - Panthers". Penrithpanthers.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  9. "Round 9 Team List - Panthers". Penrithpanthers.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  10. "Representative Round team lists". NRL.com. 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  11. "Panthers sign Ben Garcia from Super League | NRL". Zero Tackle. 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  12. "Updated: Round 26 NRL team lists". NRL.com. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  13. "2016 Downer NRL Auckland Nines Official Squads". NRL.com. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
  14. "Samoa holds on in pulsating Pacific Test". nrl.com. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  15. "FINAL TEAMS - 2017 Intrust Super State Championship". Nswrl.com.au. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  16. "STATS AMAZING - ISP NSW Grand Final". Nswrl.com.au. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  17. "Penrith Panthers 2018 season review". www.nrl.com.
  18. "Blame game will not solve Panthers' problems". Western Weekender.
  19. "Sione Katoa joins the Bulldogs". Canterbury Bulldogs.
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