Future playmaking guns: Behind the rise of Isaiya Katoa and how he compares to one of the game’s superstars

As he prepares to face his junior club for the first time, Dolphins rookie Isaiya Katoa’s impressive rookie season is comparable to one of the biggest names in the game.

Isaiya Katoa has a top signing for the Dolphins. Picture: Getty Images

Wayne Bennett says Isaiya Katoa has the self-belief to achieve NRL greatness as statistics show the Dolphins young gun is having a similar impact to Panthers superstar Nathan Cleary in their rookie seasons.

Katoa will face his former Penrith club on Sunday at Kayo Stadium for the first time since quitting the Panthers to be part of the Dolphins’ historic foundation squad this season.

The teenage sensation was named at five-eighth to oppose Panthers Origin star Jarome Luai, but is tipped to start off the bench as Bennett looks to protect Katoa from the fierce early exchanges with the two-time premiers.

For a player signed via Zoom during the Covid pandemic – Dolphins supercoach Bennett poached him from Penrith sight unseen – the Katoa gamble has proved a recruitment bonanza.

Rated the best emerging player in Penrith’s system, Katoa was only expected to play four or five games this season, but a Dolphins injury crisis has fast-tracked his NRL development and the 18-year-old will play his 17th match against the Panthers.

Katoa is a raging favourite to win the NRL’s rookie-of-the-year award and while he has looked fatigued at times this season, Bennett believes the Tongan Test ace has all the tools for long-term stardom.

Isaiya Katoa has impressed since arriving at the Dolphins. Picture: Getty Images

“Isaiya has only scratched the surface of his talent,” said Bennett, who has coached a number of gifted teenagers, including Broncos phenoms Darren Lockyer and Karmichael Hunt.

“The good young ones have to have confidence in themselves. They have to have belief in themselves long before anyone else does and Isaiya has that.

“Look, he has a huge journey in front of him. He is a long way off reaching the great talent that he has and achieving it to its fullest.

“But Isaiya is very level-headed, you would be proud to have him as your son, he has all the qualities you want in a good young player and person.”

There are parallels between Panthers maestro Cleary and his one-time understudy Katoa.

Cleary was 18 years and 202 days when he made his NRL debut against Melbourne in 2016.

Katoa was 18 years and 199 days when he was surprisingly blooded by Bennett ahead of Anthony Milford at five-eighth in the Dolphins’ epic 28-18 boilover of the Roosters in the club’s premiership debut at Suncorp Stadium in March.

Statistically, Katoa has produced similar numbers to Cleary in their debut campaigns.

Cleary played 15 matches, while Katoa could finish this season with a remarkable 23 appearances.

There are parallels between Isaiya Katoa and Nathan Cleary. Picture: Getty Images

The Dolphins wonder boy has eight try assists, seven line-break assists and 12 tackle busts, compared to a young Cleary’s nine try assists, 11 line-break assists and 25 tackle busts.

Katoa has registered 260 average kick metres this season, more than matching Cleary’s 256m in his maiden Penrith season.

Cold, hard data does not suggest Katoa will be as good as Cleary, but Bennett says the Glenmore Park junior’s attitude and work ethic will set him up for a long career in the NRL.

“If Isaiya Katoa is rugby league’s future, the game is in great shape,” Bennett said.

“He is extremely well mannered, highly respectful, he is totally committed to training and doing everything right.

“He is outstanding in all those departments.

“He is a pleasure to have at the club. There’s a lot of young men at the Dolphins who are equally impressive, but Isaiya had the biggest reputation of them all and he has handled his rise really well.”

The Dolphins had just 12 months to sign 30 players and Bennett put faith in the judgement of Dolphins recruitment chief Peter O’Sullivan, who had watched school tapes of a 16-year-old Katoa.

O’Sullivan was the veteran scout who spotted Greg Inglis and Latrell Mitchell. Bennett backed him tabling a lucrative deal to prise SG Ball star Katoa out of Penrith.

“I knew nothing about Isaiya at all,” Bennett said.

“I didn’t even watch tapes or footage of him.

“Peter O’Sullivan had seen him play and he believed he was a kid with real talent.

“I didn’t meet him properly until he started pre-season with us, but he is a wonderful young man. I’m glad he is with us.”

Dolphins supercoach Wayne Bennett. Picture: Getty Images

O’Sullivan admits he felt uneasy rolling the dice on Katoa, but after watching his first game for Penrith in the flesh, his nerves settled.

“We signed him over Zoom not long after we got the NRL licence,” O’Sullivan recalled.

“I hadn’t seen a lot of Isaiya live, so it was a bit of a gamble, but it was an educated punt I guess.

“I remember going to his first SG Ball game (for the Panthers in February, 2022).

“I had spent a good chunk of change on Isaiya, so I went to that game with a bit of a knot in my stomach.

“But after 15 minutes of the game, I was like, ‘Thank god, we’ve got it right’.”

At just 18, Katoa became a Test player. The halfback or pivot played three games for Tonga at last year’s World Cup and like Cleary, O’Sullivan says Katoa has time in the nerve centre.

“Isaiya is only 18 but he has the footballing maturity of a 24 or 25-year-old,” he said.

“He oozes class from his footy to his personality and his family. He is a great all-round package.

“All the great players just seem to have more time to do things than others and that’s the case with Isaiya.

“A big factor for us was having Wayne Bennett. A lot of parents respect Wayne’s aura and record in the game and Isaiya wanted to be coached by him.

“He is like a Jim Dymock or Jason Smith (former Origin and Test stars). He just has time with the ball in his hands. He has great touches.

“Greg Inglis was just an incredible athlete, but Isaiya is a different type of talent.

“He has great skill, plays with tempo and vision and he competes like all the great halves do.”