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Brisbane want to keep State of Origin representatives Selwyn Cobbo and Kotoni Staggs long-term but that task may have grown trickier with the recruitment of Ben Hunt
Broncos coach Michael Maguire told a recent press conference he intended to retain both but would leave the salary cap juggling up to others at the club.
So far Maguire’s arrival has coincided with good news for players on the extension front.
New deals have been announced for props Xavier Willison and Martin Taupau, along with fullback Reece Walsh. The coach has also scuppered a mooted release for forward Kobe Hetherington, who will see out his 2025 deal.
With 14 players off contract at the end of 2025, the Broncos roster is set for a raft of changes.
Captain Adam Reynolds, with one year left on his deal, said last week he would make a call mid-season about his own future.
Hunt’s two-year deal through to the end of 2026 has strained the club’s salary cap but Maroons winger Cobbo, 22, and 26-year-old centre Staggs, who has represented Australia and NSW, could benefit if several other players are not retained.
Both will no doubt receive considerable offers from elsewhere.
“I don’t want to see them leave. They’re obviously great mates of mine and they bring a lot of culture to this club as well. Cobbs and Tones are two players at the club who we’ll be looking to hold onto,” winger Jesse Arthars said.
“They’ve always been good for this group. Tones is a massive player in this club, and behind the four walls that you guys wouldn’t see, he’s a very big leader.
Kotoni Staggs scores. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“He was captain a few times last year and the year before, he’s part of our leadership group and one of the driving forces in changing this culture and trying to make it a better place.”
Staggs, who debuted for the Broncos in 2018, has reiterated on several occasions he doesn’t want to leave.
Cobbo, who likes to travel back to his home town of Cherbourg when he has the chance, famously wrote on a blackboard at school that all he wanted to do was play for Brisbane.
The duo’s intentions are one thing but fiscal reality is a key factor that will decide where they end up. The Broncos are unlikely to engage in a bidding war.
Meanwhile, the Broncos are becoming used to collective punishment at training, where an individual error is paid for by the entire group.
“The boys have just been a bit more accountable for their errors, so if someone drops the ball we’re all down doing 10 push ups,” Arthars said.
“Everyone’s working really hard. It’s obviously a different training regimen this year so the boys have been adapting to that over the last couple of weeks.
“When you get a new coach it’s obviously refreshing and he has different ideas, different concepts on how he wants us to play.
“I guess it’s just refreshing to see what Madge (Maguire) brings. We’re obviously still learning. It’s still early days, but Madge has been really good so far.”
© AAP
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