Growing up in three minutes.

Isaiya Katoa showed poise beyond his years to ice a gritty victory for the Dolphins.

“There has to be protection or compensation. It’s a waste of time developing them. For us and other developing clubs, rival teams can just sit there and pluck them out.

It’s frustrating but that’s the rules at the moment.”

If you remember, those strong comments were made by Penrith Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher back in February 2022, after the newly-minted Dolphins raided the junior stocks of rugby league’s powerhouse nursery, snatching Isaiya Katoa on a three year deal.

Considering the strength of halves ahead of Katoa at the foot of the mountains in Origin and international star pairing Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai, the comments were received at the time with a mix of skepticism and disdain.

After all, here was a club, with two sure-fire stars in the halves, coming off a premiership and favoured to repeat, complaining about the loss of a 19 year old half that would likely never play for the Panthers anyway barring some mysterious circumstances.

After two weeks in 2023, Fletcher looks vindicated in his angst at losing the young Tongan international.

Typically, when a young half is earmarked for stardom before they can legally drink, it only takes the smallest glimmer of competence upon debut for the inevitable cascade of outlandish comparisons to start.

“Future Origin star.”

“Greatest player in club history.”

“Best since [insert club legend here].”

“Future Immortal.”

Penrith have built a reputation through their identification of juniors that has permeated rugby league discourse. If Penrith rates them, they’re probably good.

If Penrith rates them enough to let fire in the media, then holy shit they must be really goddamn good.

The Dolphins, with nothing to lose but everything to gain, threw Katoa straight into the fire, opting to debut him in the club’s inaugural match in the National Rugby League, a famous win over the old tricolours at Suncorp. Wayne Bennett is an enigma, to be sure, but starting the young upstart over a “safer” retread like Anthony Milford was a signal of intent to the future.

Katoa’s debut was fairly inconspicuous. He ran the ball when pressed, but the young legs struggled to make much of an imprint on the Roosters defensive line. He took a backseat to journeyman Sean O’Sullivan for the majority of the game, but did force two dropouts. His defence was predictably a struggle, but the Roosters also missed a trick by only forcing him into 11 tackle attempts (6 made, 3 missed, 2 ineffectual), as they constantly raided down the side O’Sullivan was defending.

I thought Katoa’s week two performance at Kayo Stadium against the Raiders was far more substantial, promising and, importantly, tantalising.

The defence was improved, with 21 tackles against 3 missed, and he forced another drop out.

But the moment that made me get up and think “wow maybe Brian Fletcher was right to be so publicly miffed at losing Katoa” came with 3 minutes left and the scores level at 14 apiece.

Setting the scene, only a few minutes earlier, O’Sullivan was sent to the bin for contacting Corey Harawira-Naera in the head with his shoulder late after a kick from the Raiders forward, leaving Katoa to marshal the troops for the last few minutes and try to eke out a win.

Firstly, with no other known kicking option, Katoa was charged with last tackle options, choosing to bomb down the Raiders left towards Albert Hopoate, forcing an aerial contest and a Raiders error, and a repeat set in the attacking red zone.

The kick was effective, but the class in the ensuing set was on another level.

Following a sweeping backline move, Katoa received the ball with options. The mark of any young playmaker is choosing the right option.

The Raiders were stretched, with three defenders against five (including Katoa) Dolphins attackers.

Katoa, who is being marked by Jamal Fogarty, quickly assesses the situation. He pumps to the lead runner, Tom Gilbert, dragging in the centre in Matt Timoko, leaving a three on one overlap around the outside against a helpless Nick Cotric. With Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow sweeping around, Katoa times the pass well enough to have the Hammer catch on the outside shoulder and pour into a yawning gap for the match winner.

Take a look at the before and after of the little pump, and just how much space it creates. Holding the ball out in front, always being a threat to pass or run, just little things that throw a defence off kilter.

Timoko is already turning in here with Gilbert isolated on Fogarty, so the centre is ready to help.

Beautiful execution from Katoa, as well as Tabuai-Fidow to hit the hole. Notice how deep Katoa digs into the line. So often halves will play in front of the defensive line, allowing the defence to slide, rather than playing in the line and stretching the defence.

Sure, in hindsight, it’s an easy read, and any half worth their salt scores in that situation, but the NRL is littered with examples of young halves overplaying their hand, going for the killer long cutout pass instead of playing short and trusting structure.

Katoa showed a real poise in the final five minutes of a frantic contest in terrible conditions. Being able to step up and control the team with O’Sullivan sidelined, while finding the right moment to insert himself with a match winning touch of class, is all part of the learning process for him.

He’s going to have more rough games against tougher opponents over the rest of the season.

For the majority of the season we’ll have to content ourselves with fits and spurts, the occasional flashes of stardom, the rare moments littered in a scrapbook of inconsistency that confirms his naivety.

But what we know is that Katoa didn’t shrink in the moment, and sometimes that’s all you can ask for from a young half.