Sidelined for the majority of 2025 with a shoulder injury, Katoa enters Saturday night's do-or-die final against the Sydney Roosters as a key man for the Sharks.
The 28-year-old's battle with the high-flying Daniel Tupou looms as crucial, with the Roosters' height out wide key to their attack.
But Katoa is rarely fazed, having found calmness in his life while taking to the water with a fishing line up to twice a week during football season.
The winger has adopted the moniker of the Tongan fisherman for large parts of the past year and even tried to sneak in some time in the water during his recovery from shoulder surgery.
Katoa's YouTube channel documenting his fishing adventures has over 3000 subscribers, with more than 123,000 views across 11 videos.
Initially started to give him more confidence in front of a camera, he has even had the likes of Latrell Mitchell and Addin Fonua-Blake as guests.
"I've learnt a lot from doing that," Katoa said.
"I love learning new things. Editing, being in front of a camera.
"And I've always love outdoor stuff. I went fishing when I was younger with my uncles. It didn't really start until I was at Cronulla and I really enjoyed it."
Above all else, the Tongan international lists an epic 150-minute battle with a big-eyed tuna last summer as his greatest effort.
"It was a rare tuna not many people have seen in years," Katoa said.
"I hooked on and fought it for two-and-a-half hours. That's the crazy thing. The fight, I didn't enjoy that type of fishing.
"But the story (was great). I enjoyed eating it. After the fight I just wanted to sleep."
Katoa will need all that fight and more on Saturday night to try and take down his Tongan teammate Tupou.
Cronulla's right edge has conceded 11 tries to kicks this year, albeit with Katoa missing the first half of the year.
And few teams have a more potent left edge than the Roosters, scoring 15 tries from kicks on that side this season.
Much of that is down to Tupou.
When the Roosters beat Cronulla in Gosford in May, Tupou scored twice by outleaping Mawene Hiroti. Another try came when he batted a bomb back.
More recently the Roosters used Tupou's height as an advantage again when the sides met at Shark Park in July.
The Roosters' attack was off that night, but Tupou still got above Cronulla debutant Chris Vea'ila to score.
But Katoa is adamant there are ways to stop Tupou.
"It is possible to jump higher than him," Katoa insisted. "It just comes down to the night.
"How do I stop him? Just team work as well.
"My edge doing good escorts and just me doing my best to get up there. Whether I catch it or just hit it."
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