Kiwis coach Stacey Jones calls for greater scrutiny after 'scary' Eli Katoa concussion

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Pacific Championships Final

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Kiwis coach Stacey Jones believes there needs to be plenty of surveillance during warmup for matches to make sure there isn't a repeat of the situation that happened to Tongan player Iliesa Katoa.

The NRL is continuing to investigate the handling of the incident with Katoa, who ended up in hospital following the Pacific Championship game at Eden Park on Sunday after suffering three head knocks.

The Tongan star was still recovering in Auckland after having seizures and a brain bleed. He underwent emergency surgery on Sunday night and was stable on Monday.

Citing an interview Katoa's uncle Reverend Steelo Katoa gave to radio station PMN Tonga, the Australian Associated Press is reporting Katoa's status had progressed and he had been moved out of ICU to another part of Auckland Hospital.

"My thoughts and prayers are really just with Eli right at the moment. I don't know enough about what went on. Obviously it wasn't nice and I just hope for Eli to make a full recovery," Jones said ahead of the Pacific Championship final between the Kiwis and Toa Samoa in Sydney this weekend.

Of most concern for many is the friendly fire knock Katoa took during warmups and appears to have only warranted on field attention by Tonga's medical staff.

NRL clubs are currently required to film all contact sessions so that any head knocks can be reviewed and they must have spotters at training looking for head injuries or serious collisions.

Tongan officials say Katoa's clash with team-mate Lehi Hopoate wasn't seen at the time.

Former Warriors and Kiwis forward turned commentator Monty Betham told First Up the hit up was "horrific".

"We watched that in the warm up, we watched it live," he said, calling it "the worst I've seen all year".

"The NRL is investigating this - and they need to. It is absolutely sickening."

Jones was asked by reporters if more should be done to ensure players don't receive head injuries during warmups.

"There should be scrutiny around it," Jones said.

"I wasn't there, I don't know know what went on and what went on after, but there has got to be some real good care around the players.

"We have it at training. But again, I don't know enough to comment on what went on."

"Just because it wasn't on the field in the 80 minutes of game time, it still needs to be looked at and still needs to be addressed," Betham said.

"I know for a fact if you get knocked out or concussed in training, you go through the same protocols; you've gotta have HIA tests and you've gotta make sure that you pass the baseline to ensure you can return to training at the highest level and then go into the game situation."

Betham said it was "amazing" that Katoa's situation wasn't life-threatening.

"If there is some neglect around this, or not enough care - and he can't play the game anymore that has given him so much - that's not good enough."

'Heads will roll' - Johnson

Speaking on his Play On Sport Show podcast earlier this week, former Kiwis and Warriors star Shaun Johnson also called out the handling of Katoa's situation, calling it "scary scenes" and questioning why Katoa was even allowed to take the field.

"I don't get how it can even get to that point," he said.

"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."

"In warm-up he [gets] a shoulder to the head, like, smack bang to the face and like, loose body to the ground," Johnson said.

"He's not sleeping on the ground, he sort of rolls over … but it's a limp body to the ground.

"Now all I thought, straight away when I saw that was, OK, if that happened in a game or if that happened at training during the week, he's done.

"It's done … they probably even go [category] one on it … you're just done bro, like, come on, player welfare, we're looking after you.

"But then it comes through the head piece that he's passed his HIA and me and Richie, we look at each other and we go 'no way'.

"You want to see the best players playing, but when you [were watching] you felt sick over the incident.

"He's not right. It was a bad one, it wasn't a mediocre one, it was a bad one in warm-up."

"He takes another one in the first half and he's pulled off [the pitch]. Now I'm like, 'OK, you've just had your second head knock, it's, bro, we're going to take the decision out of your hands now'," Johnson said.

"Don't even give him the possibility, don't give him the chance of passing this.

"But they do it, and he passes.

"Sure enough, he rolls back out there. But then I see him take a third one.

"I actually felt proper sick. It was yuck.

"They pull him off, I don't even know, I don't want to speculate, I don't know if that was his HIA pull off. But what we see from the sideline is really alarming.

Johnson said that every player would want to keep playing, no matter what the circumstances, but it was the duty of the medical staff to take the decision out of their hands.

"I hope it never gets to that point again for any of our players," Johnson said.

"I don't like our players not being looked after."

Tonga coach: 'My job is not to question doctors'

Tonga coach Kristian Woolf defended the pitchside Tongan medical staff, saying that it was not his job to question their judgement.

"We have two very experienced doctors there, they have done the usual [tests]. He has passed all that and passed it well," Woolf said.

"My job is not to question doctors.

"They were both comfortable with that and comfortable with him coming back on to the field."

The Rugby League Players Association has said it will run its own enquiries into the incident.

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