An injured Eliesa Katoa of Tonga is attended to by a trainer New Zealand Kiwis v Tonga XIII Round 3 of the Pacific Championships rugby league tournament at Eden Park, Auckland Photo: NRL Photos/Photosport
The NRL has proposed banning some Tongan league officials from Australian rugby league competitions for two years after a player was hospitalised following a match at Eden Park in November.
Eliesa Katoa underwent brain surgery after suffering multiple blows to the head during Tonga's Pacific Championships match against New Zealand on 2 November.
Katoa, 25, will miss the entire 2026 NRL season. The Melbourne Storm player suffered a brutal head knock during warm-up, but was still allowed to play in the match, where he suffered two more head knocks.
He had not had a head injury assessment (HIA) for the initial knock, and passed a HIA for the first injury in the test against NZ and continued playing, but left the field after the second.
The NRL on Monday said its investigation "identified a number of serious concerns regarding possible breaches of the NRL rules and protocols by a number of individuals" in Katoa's treatment.
"These concerns relate to a possible breakdown in communication between responsible medical and health professionals in relation to the safety of Mr Katoa, including through a failure to share and disclose information that was vital to the health of the player."
The league said all of its on-field NRL trainers and medical personnel were "required to annually complete the NRL's Elite Head Injury/Concussion protocols as well as maintain minimum standards of medical qualification and education".
The result of its investigation was to issue a breach notice to four Tongan officials, banning them from participating in NRL or Australian Rugby League Commission competitions for two years, including the head doctor, assistant doctor and head trainer.
A formal warning was also issued to the side's medical assistant.
"All individuals will also be required to undergo further training on their responsibilities under the NRL rules and the NRL's policy for the management of possible head injuries and concussion."
Each had five days to respond to notice, the NRL said.
Eliesa Katoa (r) comes across on defence as Kiwis centre Matthew Timoko makes a break. Photo: Photosport
Directly after the match, former Kiwis and Warriors star Shaun Johnson was critical that Katoa was even allowed to play.
"I don't get how it can even get to that point," he said on his Play on Sport Show podcast. "There's going to be fallout over this.
"There's going to be some heads that will roll, because I do not know how Eli Katoa was actually even allowed to take the field."
Tonga coach Kristian Woolf at the time defended team doctors, saying everything was "done by the book".
"We've got two very experienced doctors there," he said. "They've done their usual HIA. He's passed all that and passed all that well.
"My job is not to question doctors. They were both comfortable with that and comfortable with him coming back onto the field, so I don't think there's anything to worry about there in terms of the process."
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