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<\/p>\n
Currently on a development deal with the club, the decision by Coates leaves the door open for him to join the PNG Chiefs for their inaugural season in 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been fantastic to watch Phil grow, both as a player and as a person since joining our Academy program,\u201d Broncos GM of Recruitment and Pathways Simon Scanlan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s worked closely with our staff and has taken great strides in his development, which has earned him this opportunity in the NRL squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhil\u2019s put in a lot of hard work over a number of years, and this extension is a great reward for the commitment and progress he\u2019s shown.\u201d<\/p>\n
An Under-19s Queensland and Junior Kumuls representative, Coates is edging closer to an NRL debut and is currently impressing in the QLD Cup with the Burleigh Bears.<\/p>\n
In three appearances this season, he has made two line-breaks, scored two tries and averaged 93 running meters per match.<\/p>\n
Phillip Coates.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
DRAGONS HAND YOUNG FORWARD UPGRADE<\/p>\n
The St George Illawarra Dragons have rewarded a young forward with a contract upgrade as he continues to impress club officials, as he rises up the pathways ranks.\ufeff<\/p>\n
A former Under-19s Queensland Maroons squad member, Ryan Hutchinson, has been handed a new deal from the Red V, which will not only see him extended but also upgraded to the club\u2019s developmental list.<\/p>\n
Able to play a variety of roles in the forwards, the 20-year-old has most recently cemented the lock position in the NSW Cup, where he has made five appearances this season, adding to his career tally of 14.<\/p>\n
Averaging 91 running metres a game to go with 130 tackles, eight tackle busts and 177.3 post-contact metres, don\u2019t be surprised if he makes the jump to first-grade sooner than expected.<\/p>\n
Ryan Hutchinson.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
UNDER-19S NSW BLUES CENTRE RETURNS TO FIELD\ufeff<\/p>\n
A former teenage prodigy who represented the Under-19s NSW Blues, Ethan Ferguson is set to make his return to the rugby league field this weekend via the QLD Cup with the Tweed Seagulls.<\/p>\n
Listed as a replacement for last week\u2019s match, Ferguson has been named on the interchange bench for the Seagulls\u2019 match against the Central Queensland Capras and is set to play alongside the likes of Luke Sommerton, Jensen Taumoepeau and NRL veteran Shaquai Mitchell.<\/p>\n
The cousin of Latrell and Shaquai Mitchell, Ferguson decided to have a two-year hiatus from rugby league after departing the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2023 to prioritse his mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst I want to give all glory to God because without his guidance I wouldn\u2019t have been able to make it through everything I\u2019ve gone through,\u201d Ferguson posted on social media at the end of last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecondly, I want to give a massive thank you to my beautiful fianc\u00e9e, Chloe Puliuvea and our amazing son for helping me get through my mental health journey and really making my life such an amazing journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d ever make this post or if I\u2019ll ever step onto a field again but I\u2019m glad to announce that I\u2019M BACK.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankyou to all my support team\/family for giving me endless amounts of support and encouragement. Your support throughout my mental health journey really helped save my life and turned it around and for that I\u2019m forever grateful.<\/p>\n
Ethan Ferguson.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cI went from being 130kg, depressed, feeling along and if my life was over, to being back at my playing weight range of 105-108 and having everything I could ever need.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, a massive thankyou to Tweed Seagulls for giving me the opportunity to make my comeback to professional rugby league.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys gave me a chance when everyone else said I was a risk and not worth it. And another thankyou to everyone who said that I\u2019m a wasted talents and that I\u2019m a has been.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve really helped fuel the fire in me even more to get back to the player I was, so again thankyou. But also, this isn\u2019t it. This isn\u2019t the end of the story. This is just the start of the next chapter and I can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s coming next.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for now, it\u2019s time to let the whole world know…I\u2019M BACK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phillip Coates, the younger brother of Melbourne Storm and Queensland Maroons winger Xavier Coates, has made a decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-612940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612940","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=612940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}