{"id":961587,"date":"2026-11-12T08:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T08:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/961587\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T08:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T08:36:12","slug":"rugby-league-world-cup-final-staggs-ready-to-shine-on-home-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/961587\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby League World Cup final: Staggs ready to shine on home ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t expect Kangaroos centre Kotoni Staggs to unleash his trademark \u201cthis is our home\u201d celebration at Suncorp Stadium if he scores a try against New Zealand in Sunday night\u2019s Rugby League World Cup final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll keep that with the Broncos,\u201d the Brisbane star said on Thursday when asked about the way he celebrates scoring tries at the \u201cCauldron\u201d, particulary in derbies against the Dolphins.<\/p>\n

Not that Staggs isn\u2019t embracing the chance to be part of a World Cup final-winning team on \u201chome\u201d soil. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my home ground. It\u2019s probably the best stadium to play at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd gets behind you. I\u2019ve got a lot of good memories there, and I\u2019ll be taking that into the game, (but) I still know that I\u2019ve got to do my job and play my best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staggs has been a constant in the Kangaroos team throughout the World Cup despite an indifferent NRL season with the Broncos, who flopped in the defence of the premiership they won in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the season that I wanted to have in club land, but I knew that I had to keep training hard, and I didn\u2019t know what was going to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Staggs is fully aware that having his former Broncos coach Kevin Walters as Kangaroos mentor has helped his selection cause in a starting team that has no room for Souths star Latrell Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\u201cKev stuck with me from (last year\u2019s) Ashes series as well, and from my time at the Broncos with Kev as well, I\u2019ve probably played some of my best footy underneath him,\u201d Staggs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets the best out of me. He had a bit of trust in that as well. I\u2019m grateful to be in this team and starting on the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staggs\u2019 form has improved as the tournament has progressed, as has been the case for the Kangaroos as a collective.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the start, we came from different systems, so we were trying to learn what\u2019s comfortable for us in this Australian team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the World Cup\u2019s gone on, we\u2019ve connected a lot more. <\/p>\n

\u201cFirstly it\u2019s probably our defence. There were a few times where we lacked in our defence, but I think we\u2019ve gotten a lot better. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot more trust on the edge. It\u2019s just a communication thing. We\u2019re on all on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Kotoni Staggs shelves trademark Broncos celebration ahead of World Cup final at Suncorp Stadium<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t expect Kangaroos centre Kotoni Staggs to unleash his trademark \u201cthis is our home\u201d celebration at Suncorp Stadium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":961588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[528501,4891,376963,439172,529502,443783,392402,376730,448860,398846,529496,529484,11638,64,63,651,278347,23296,529506,529487,529485,13148,467712,529503,529492,529489,529498,529495,31550,529499,529494,337264,3194,94701,45755,214842,482926,388599,529497,529491,386826,381011,1736,43961,35062,403221,380297,441318,529500,6622,529490,94,760,67730,529488,85,108796,40050,8825,514819,529504,529493,61418,376840,324707,376941,377127,382474,529501,56574,74713,11637,501260,380487,529486,422305,356269,376950,359749,214758,22514,72503,529483,386816,9357,529505,1542,57058,25224,113761],"class_list":["post-961587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-s-rugby-league-world-cup-final","tag-4891","tag-a-bit","tag-a-collective","tag-a-communication-thing","tag-a-constant","tag-a-few-times","tag-a-lot","tag-a-starting-team","tag-a-try","tag-a-world-cup-final-winning-team","tag-an-indifferent-nrl-season","tag-ashes-series","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-qld","tag-club-land","tag-derbies","tag-different-systems","tag-famous-try-celebration","tag-form","tag-good-memories","tag-his-former-broncos-coach-kevin-walters","tag-his-home-ground","tag-his-most-famous-celebration","tag-his-selection-cause","tag-his-trademark","tag-home-soil","tag-kangaroos-centre-kotoni-staggs","tag-kangaroos-mentor","tag-kev","tag-kevin-walters","tag-kotoni-staggs","tag-last-year","tag-limits","tag-more-trust","tag-my-best","tag-my-best-footy","tag-my-home-ground","tag-my-job","tag-my-time","tag-new-zealand","tag-newswire-sport","tag-night","tag-no-room","tag-our-defence","tag-our-home","tag-our-home-celebration","tag-part","tag-particulary","tag-qld","tag-rugby","tag-scoring-tries","tag-souths-star-latrell-mitchell","tag-sports","tag-staggs","tag-suncorp-stadium","tag-sunday","tag-the-best-out","tag-the-best-stadium","tag-the-brisbane-star","tag-the-broncos","tag-the-case","tag-the-cauldron","tag-the-chance","tag-the-crowd","tag-the-defence","tag-the-dolphins-not","tag-the-edge","tag-the-game","tag-the-kangaroos","tag-the-kangaroos-team","tag-the-premiership","tag-the-rugby-league-world-cup-final","tag-the-same-page","tag-the-season","tag-the-start","tag-the-tournament","tag-the-way","tag-the-weekend","tag-the-world-cup","tag-this-australian-team","tag-this-team","tag-thursday","tag-trademark-broncos-celebration","tag-training","tag-tries","tag-trust","tag-world-cup-final"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961587","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=961587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/961588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}