Tonga's coaching staff and fans around the globe will be facing a nervous wait after Isaiya Katoa suffered an ankle injury during the Dolphins' preliminary final loss to the Roosters.
Katoa's ankle was trapped awkwardly in a hit-up in the first set of the match, signalling plenty of discomfort through the remaining 79-minutes, but soldiered through.
Fresh reports from the Courier Mail reveal Katoa could barely walk following full-time on Friday night.
The 22-year-old star half was spotted walking to the team bus in discomfort an hour and a half post-match aided with a moon boot.
Katoa will go for scans on Saturday and will be racing the clock to be fit for Tonga's World Cup campaign, which kicks off in mid-October.
If scans return results of a syndesmosis injury that requires surgery, Katoa risks missing the World Cup campaign, causing a tremendous blow for Tonga's chances to push to world champs.
On a positive note, Katoa's opposite, Sam Walker, returned on Friday night for the Roosters after only a few weeks out of action, and will be hoping to emulate the same recovery.
“I'm not sure if I'll be right (for the World Cup), I hope I am,” Katoa said to News Corp on Friday night.
“It's pretty sore at the moment and I'll have some scans to see how bad it is.
“I got my ankle twisted in that tackle, I felt it straight, and I just had to get through the game and do the best I could.
“Hopefully it's not too serious and I'll be OK to play for Tonga.”
Best-case scenario for Katoa and Tonga is an ankle sprain, which would require only a few weeks of rehab to get him right for their opening World Cup match.
Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf revealed his number seven was in a lot of discomfort but pushed through the pain to fight for a victory in the prelim.
“It's obviously sore,” Woolf said.
“He was hobbling around with it for the majority of the game.
“That certainly knocked us around, he is a key player for us and you could see he wasn't quite at his best because he was hindered.
“We will get it checked out and see where he is at.”
Woolf will lead Tonga through the World Cup campaign and is faced with plenty of selection headaches across the squad, given the star firepower of talent available to wear the red international colours.
The emergence of Tonga was sparked by Jason Taumalolo defecting from New Zealand to represent the tiny island nation in 2017.
Since then, many stars followed suit, leading to Tonga defeating Australia in 2019 for the first time.
They are now widely regarded as a significant threat, same as Samoa, despite not being Tier 1 nations.
Tonga will kick off their World Cup raid in Perth against England on October 17.
