NRL 2023: Future Gold Coast Titans star Joseph Pouniu’s life-changing spinal injury

Joseph Pouniu was the model student and son that was destined for NRL glory. Now the future Queensland rugby league star is battling a catastrophic spinal injury that has rocked the game.

Titans prospect Joseph Pouniu has been diagnosed as a quadriplegic after suffering a devastating spinal injury. He has celebrated his 17th birthday with friends and family in hospital. Credit: Supplied.

The mother of a future Queensland rugby league star has revealed the extent of a devastating spinal injury that has left the NRL prospect fighting for life.

Joseph Pouniu has been diagnosed a quadriplegic after suffering a catastrophic injury while captaining the future Gold Coast Titans team.

Pouniu collided heavily with a goalpost during an under-17s match against the Brisbane Broncos on the Gold Coast in January.

Shocked spectators compared the impact to a car crash, with Pouniu not moving following the collision.

Pouniu was rushed to Brisbane for emergency surgery at the Princess Alexandra Hospital to stabilise his neck and reattach the C4 and C5 discs to his spinal cord.

While Poiniu is making daily improvements in his rehabilitation, he is facing at least six months in hospital and a daily fight against life-threatening infections.

Nuseta Pouniu said her son was in the fight of his life after celebrating his 17th birthday in hospital last month.

YOU CAN SUPPORT POUNIU’S FUNDRAISER HERE.

Titans prospect Joseph Pouniu celebrated his 17th birthday with friends and family in hospital. Credit: Supplied.

Joseph Pouniu supported by friends on his 17th birthday. Credit: Supplied.

“He has already started some of his rehabilitation and he is making progress. We are seeing improvements each day,” she said.

“He has started sitting up in a wheelchair and does an hour or so every day. His time sitting up is slowly increasing day by day which is a huge improvement in such a short period of time. He has also got his appetite back and is eating well.

“Joe is now in his second week without the use of oxygen machines. He is breathing on his own but is still very fatigued at times from all the medications he’s on and especially after his physio exercises.

“He has some movement and little sensation on his left arm but not so much on his right arm. He has started to get tingling in his legs, pins and needles every now and then, however he still has no movement or sensation from the waist down

“The big risk is Joe developing autonomic dysreflexia (over-reaction to stimulus). He had a blood clot a week ago which caused a sudden increase in blood pressure and he also developed an infection twice.

“He was on antibiotics to treat the infection which finished a few days ago, but his blood pressure and temperature is up and down and the nurses are monitoring his BP regularly.

“We kindly ask for your continued prayers, to please pray to bless his body, that his blood and body remains healthy and clean and rejects any infection.”

Joseph Pouniu played for the Redcliffe Dolphins. Picture: John Gass

Pouniu’s life-changing injury has rocked the Queensland rugby league community, with the strapping forward having ties to the Broncos, Titans and his junior club the Redcliffe Dolphins.

A GoFundMe campaign has already raised more than $60,000 and is now targeting $100,000 as the true extent of Pouniu’s prognosis becomes clear.

“It’s a heartbreaking story,” said Pouniu’s manager Simon Mammino.

“He’s been diagnosed as a quadriplegic. It can take months to work out where it’s going to end up, but at the moment he has little movement in his left and right arm.

“I am so rattled by it. It’s just so traumatic, it’s difficult to comprehend.

“The support has been very heartwarming. The family appreciate that and you feel the league community has come together with such a life-changing tragedy.

“We are praying and hoping he will have some sort of recovery. The outlook isn’t too positive, but we are holding out hope and Joseph will do everything he can to recover the best he can.”

Joseph Pouniu was on track to play NRL for the Titans. Picture taken from Facebook.

A Year 12 leader at St Eugene College in Burpengary, Pouniu has been described as the model student and an outstanding footy player with a bright future.

After coming through the Broncos’ junior academy, “Big Joe” recently signed a three-year contract with the Gold Coast Titans and was due to join the club’s NRL squad next season.

A talent spotter who’s unearthed the likes of Queensland Origin players Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Josh McGuire and Moses Mbye, Mammino said Pouniu was on the path to greatness.

Now he faces a fight to walk again.

“I honestly believe he would have been a superstar,” Mammino said.

“He was the best player that night the incident happened. He had just signed a three-year deal to be with the Titans’ top squad.

“He was somewhere between a Tino and Pat Carrigan (Broncos forward) type of player. He was 199cm and moved like a back and was very dominant in defence for his age group. I have no doubt he would have made Australian Schoolboys and played in the NRL.

“He was a generational player, that’s how good he was. In my 20 years as an agent, I’ve rarely come across a kid who trained like him.

“He was truly dedicated and he would give back to the community. He gave back to a school church and he wanted to be loyal to the Titans and their academy.

“He is one of the best kids I’ve ever managed. He was a younger version of Tino, just a lovely kid with beautiful manners and a supreme talent.

“There’s a photo he keeps of him walking a grade one kid to class. That’s the type of leader he was at school. He just cared about other kids.

“This family is the most beautiful family. If I had to wheel out the textbook perfect family, this would be it.”

Titans head coach Justin Holbrook has visited Pouniu in hospital. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Dolphins figures Ben Te’o and Kurt Richards have visited Pouniu in hospital while the Titans recently beat a number of rival NRL clubs to secure his signature for the next three years.

Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook said he was shattered by what had occurred.

“I’ve visited him a couple of times and it’s going to be a really long road for him and his family,” he said.

“You don’t wish that upon anybody at any level of the game, but especially for a young guy that had just committed his long-term future to our club and was about to join our full-time squad.

“It’s heartbreaking. Joseph had committed to staying at the Titans, and knowing he now won’t get that opportunity is awful and cruel.

“He is a terrific young fella. Off the field he is a senior part of his school and in all the academic areas doing really well. He was focusing on that, rather than schoolboys footy which a lot of kids do.

“I met with him and his family a few times about his future as there was a lot of interest in him.

“We will support him as best as we can through that. We are behind him. Hopefully we can see signs of improvement over time.”

You can support Pouniu’s fundraiser here.

Originally published as NRL 2023: Future Gold Coast Titans star Joseph Pouniu’s life-changing spinal injury