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Brisbane Broncos centre Kotoni Staggs says he will commit to Australia for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup \u2013 but only if Kevin Walters stays as Kangaroos coach.<\/p>\n
Rugby league has long had a credibility issue when it comes to the international game and the statement from the player \u2013 who also qualifies for Tonga \u2013 is just the latest example of why that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n
Walters, who coached the Broncos from 2021-24, was handed the national role on a short-term deal for this year\u2019s Ashes tour. <\/p>\n
He responded with a commanding 3-0 sweep over England, guiding the Kangaroos to wins at Wembley, Everton\u2019s Hill Dickinson Stadium and Headingley.<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old has since made it clear he wants the job full-time, though the ARL Commission is yet to make a call.<\/p>\n
Staggs, who played all three Tests on the tour and lifted his Kangaroos tally to six caps, made no secret of where his loyalty sits \u2013 provided Walters stays.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying back with Kev during the Ashes was good,\u201d Staggs told reporters. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a good relationship. I love being alongside him and being coached by him, he\u2019s taught me a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Kev stays in that role, I don\u2019t see myself anywhere else. I\u2019ve played some of my best footy under him. If he\u2019s there, I\u2019ll be there as well \u2013 but time will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old has represented both Australia and Tonga, wearing the Mate Ma\u2019a jersey three times, most recently in 2022. Both nations will feature at next year\u2019s World Cup across Australia and Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n
The tournament draw has kept the two sides apart early, but a semifinal clash remains firmly on the table. <\/p>\n
Australia, the defending champions, must finish top two in a group featuring New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands. Tonga face a tougher route through a six-team combined ladder with England, Samoa, Lebanon, Papua New Guinea and France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size Brisbane Broncos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,952,760,159,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-311016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-rugby-league","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311016","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=311016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}