Baffles me why anyone would want to look pretty in line for a handout..
Maybe that happens when they can't sign anyone willing to play for this club/coach, so promoting from within becomes the only option.
Agree, if your good enough, your old enough...
He actually looks like he can only get better. Tall, rangy, strong. With some higher level coaching he could flourish.
Well basically our youngins don't have good enough basic skill level to allow too many in the team at once. Hence our biggest thrashings.
I think if he learns how to offload in traffic he'll be a weapon. He clearly can dent the line. Hopefully he can level up his upper body strength to compete against adults.
NRL: Introducing Eliesa Katoa, the Warriors' new secret weapon
Eliesa Katoa played nine games of league but is about to take the NRL by storm.www.stuff.co.nz
NRL: Introducing Eliesa Katoa, the Warriors' new secret weapon
Going into this year's NRL season, it wasn't a case if Eliesa Katoa would make his NRL debut, but when.
However, for the 20-year-old to make his first appearance for the Warriors in the opening game of the season, after playing just nine games of league in his life is beyond everybody's expectations.
Katoa has been given the No 16 jersey for the Warriors' game against the Knights in Newcastle on Saturday afternoon and while to outsiders it may be a surprise that he's in the team already, talk to anyone at the club and they'll tell you he's earned his spot.
"He's wanting to learn, his intent when he trains," Warriors coach Stephen Kearney said of Katoa.
"He's a big lad, he's very athletic for a big man but also he has a real capacity to want to learn.
"He's pretty raw in the game of rugby league but you wouldn't think so and that's a credit to him because he's taken on all the information the coaches are giving him.
"I've just been super-impressed, without putting any pressure on the kid.
"I've seen a few kids and he's a good one."
Katoa trained the house down over the preseason, sometimes showing up more experienced players with his determination to keep pushing himself and while he may be raw, at 193cm tall and 110kg, he packs a punch that will have other NRL clubs wondering where this kid came from.
Katoa is destined to make a big impression in league, but it's still a sport he's getting to grips with and he never expected to have a career in it.
"I finished school two years ago, was straight into the club and the thing for me was to learn the game," Katoa said of his conversion to league.
"Growing up I was a rugby player and never thought I'd play league in my life, but things happened.
"So last year was more about learning the game."
Katoa picked up a shoulder injury last year and needed an operation, so he only got to play seven games for the under 20s team. He used that time to understand league as much as he could.
But he said he wasn't happy with how much he progressed and was determined to make big strides during the preseason.
"Last year was about learning the game for me and after the season I said to myself did I have a good season?" He said.
"There were a few things that I could have done better and that's what motivated me.
"I'd look at the other boys and think that if they can do it, so can I. So I decided that from the start of the preseason, with everything I do, I'll do it better than before."
Katoa says the basics are similar, comparing playing in the back row of rugby, to the second row in league and it all still comes down to going hard.
"In rugby, you just get the ball and run and that's the same in league," he said.
"But when I started playing league there were some little technical things that I didn't think it was important to learn about, like how to wrestle on the ground and stuff like that.
"So now I know what you've got to do in league. Like I play in the second row in league and on the edge I've got to run hard and tackle hard, that's my key job."
Katoa, who lived in Tonga until he was 17, was given a scholarship by Tamaki College and played No 8 or blindside flanker there before he was snapped up by the Warriors and he jumped at the chance to be a professional athlete.
"The Warriors offered me a contract and like I said, I never imagined that I'd play league, even when I came to Tamaki, I was just playing rugby.
"In my last game, some of the coaches from the Warriors came up to me and said they wanted to offer me something.
"I said I'd take it, because that's why I'm here, I want to help my family and whatever it takes to help them, I'll do."
Katoa's father passed away in 2011, but his mother and other family members remain in Tonga and no doubt it will be a proud moment for all of them to see him make his NRL debut this weekend.
I know right! His humility reminds me of Ali let alone his potential on the field. Has presence on the field in spades, at least that is what I noticed most from the trials and could imagine Craig Bellamy taking note too..
08 May
10 - 29 
Compiled from 13 ratings
