{"id":145445,"date":"2025-09-15T17:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T17:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/145445\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T17:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T17:27:11","slug":"brisbane-broncos-star-kotoni-staggs-yet-to-confirm-international-allegiance-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/145445\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane Broncos star Kotoni Staggs yet to confirm international allegiance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI think everything will take after that, but at the moment I don\u2019t really have any thoughts on what I\u2019m going to do, and whatever comes around it will be a tough decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just love that my name is being tossed around with that Australian team, so I must be doing something right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staggs has become Brisbane\u2019s spiritual leader in 2025, a mantle he took again against the Raiders \u2013 scoring a try while running for 200 metres and an incredible 13 tackle busts.<\/p>\n

His performance kept his side in the contest, and laid the foundation for Walsh to return from a stint in the sin bin and orchestrate a dramatic late comeback from 28-12 down.<\/p>\n

The Wellington product will need to lift another gear again come the preliminary final, following revelations five-eighth Billy Walters had suffered damage to his ACL and Brendan Piakura would undergo scans on Tuesday for a facial injury \u2013 putting both men in doubt.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

Haas was cleared of serious concern after he was seen limping throughout the Canberra triumph, while Xavier Willison can make his comeback after recovering from surgery on a fractured arm suffered in round 22.<\/p>\n

Staggs\u2019 career turnaround has been one of the more remarkable narratives of the NRL \u2013 going from the brink of Broncos\u2019 exile four years ago after a string of off-field indiscretions<\/a> to one of the most damaging centres and fearless leaders in the game.<\/p>\n

His average 134 running metres a game and 24 line-breaks are career-best milestones, while he is just three tries short of levelling his leading season tally of 13 \u2013 which he achieved in 2023 having played five more games than he currently has.<\/p>\n

While Staggs admitted he would be eager to one day captain his childhood club \u2013 a role currently filled by Adam Reynolds, with Pat Carrigan his usual replacement \u2013 he was comfortable in his current position.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one would ever turn captaining this team down, and I\u2019d love to do it if I got the opportunity,\u201d Staggs said, \u201cbut right now, I\u2019m comfortable with what I\u2019m doing playing that leadership role and helping out the backs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kotoni<\/p>\n

Kotoni Staggs in action for the Kangaroos.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

As for his resurgent form: \u201cHappy wife, happy life mate,\u201d Staggs said with a sly grin, referencing his partner, Brittany Becht, who he credits for turning his life around after meeting in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think from the previous years this is probably the year I\u2019ve felt good about my whole body, and that\u2019s been one of the things that has stopped me in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201c…I\u2019m looking after my body and not drinking too much beer, and just trying to be professional away from footy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can control everything here when we have all the coaches and staff, but I think it\u2019s away from here and out of the sights of the coaches and dieticians is when you have to start looking after yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI think everything will take after that, but at the moment I don\u2019t really have any thoughts on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-145445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}