Sione Katoa (rugby league, born 1997)

Sione Katoa (born 21 August 1997) is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays on the for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL.

Background
Katoa was born in Hamilton, New Zealand and is of Tongan descent. Katoa moved to Sydney, Australia in 2003 aged 6.

He was a student at Barker College where he played in the First XV rugby union team. He played his junior rugby league for the Chester Hill Hornets.

Katoa was part of the Parramatta Eels junior systems before being signed by the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Katoa played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks NYC team in 2016–2017, scoring 44 tries in 49 matches. On 4 September 2017, Katoa was named on the wing in the 2017 Holden Cup Team of the Year.

2018
After impressing in the pre-season trials for the Sharks, Katoa had beaten the likes of Edrick Lee and Aaron Gray to the vacant wing spot for Round 1. In Round 1 of the 2018 NRL season, Katoa made his NRL debut for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks against the North Queensland Cowboys, starting on the wing and had a solid performance before leaving the field with a suspected broken jaw in the second half as the Sharks were defeated 20–14 at 1300SMILES Stadium.

Katoa ended the season playing for Cronulla's feeder club side Newtown in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW. Katoa played on the wing for Newtown in their 2018 Intrust Super Premiership NSW grand final loss to Canterbury-Bankstown at Leichhardt Oval.

2019
Katoa made 7 appearances for Cronulla-Sutherland in the 2019 NRL season but mainly spent much of the year playing for the club's feeder side Newtown in the Canterbury Cup NSW. Katoa played for Newtown in their 2019 Canterbury Cup NSW grand final victory over the Wentworthville Magpies at the new Western Sydney Stadium. The following week, Katoa played for Newtown in the NRL State Championship victory over the Burleigh Bears at ANZ Stadium.

2020
In round 6 of the 2020 NRL season, Katoa scored a hat-trick as Cronulla defeated Canterbury 20–18 at Bankwest Stadium.

2021
In round 19 of the 2021 NRL season, he scored two tries for Cronulla in a 44–24 victory over Canterbury-Bankstown.

In round 23 against the Wests Tigers, Katoa scored two tries for Cronulla in a 50–20 victory. In round 25, Katoa scored two tries for Cronulla in a 26–18 loss against Melbourne. He played 13 games for Cronulla and scored nine tries in the 2021 NRL season which saw the club narrowly miss the finals by finishing 9th on the table.

2022
In round 14 of the 2022 NRL season, Katoa scored a hat-trick in Cronulla's 38–16 victory over the New Zealand Warriors. On 19 July, Katoa was ruled out for the rest of the 2022 NRL season with a pectoral injury.

2023
On 30 March, Katoa signed a three-year contract extension to remain at Cronulla until the end of 2026. In round 19 of the 2023 NRL season, Katoa scored a hat-trick in Cronulla's 36–12 victory over the bottom placed Wests Tigers. Katoa played a total of 25 games for Cronulla in the 2023 NRL season and scored 13 tries as Cronulla finished sixth on the table. Katoa played in the clubs 13-12 upset loss against the Sydney Roosters which ended their season.

2024
In round 8 of the 2024 NRL season, Katoa scored two tries for Cronulla in their 40-0 victory over Canberra. In round 13, Katoa scored two tries for Cronulla in their upset 34-22 loss against Parramatta. In round 19, he scored two tries for Cronulla in their 58-6 victory over the Wests Tigers.

NRL

 * Statistics are correct as of the end of round 12 2024