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Staggs dismisses Broncos NRL exit talk

3 minute read

Brisbane's Kotoni Staggs has insisted he doesn't want to leave the NRL club despite speculation several rivals are looking to poach the centre.

KOTONI STAGGS.
KOTONI STAGGS. Picture: Matt Roberts/Getty Images

Brisbane's Kotoni Staggs insists he doesn't want to be anywhere other than Red Hill and is purely focused on completing his recovery from a serious knee injury.

The 22-year-old is off-contract at the end of the 2021 NRL season and has already been linked to big offers from at least three rival clubs.

While the young centre is one of the hottest properties on the market this year, Staggs says he has no desire to quit the Broncos.

"I love the club. Growing up as a young kid this is where I wanted to be," Staggs said at an announcement of the Broncos' ongoing partnership with Indigenous health service Deadly Choices.

"It was a dream to play at the Broncos and just the club itself, growing up, watching Darren Lockyer, he was my idol.

"I don't want to be anywhere else but here.

"It'll be good if I can stay here. I just want to play good footy when I get back from injury and see what happens."

Staggs underwent a knee reconstruction at the end of Brisbane's horror 2020 campaign, wrecking his hopes of a maiden NSW State of Origin jersey.

Having just returned to running, Staggs says his rehabilitation is going well but he isn't pushing himself to get back to playing earlier than his current target of round 13 or 14 this season.

"I'm not rushing. That's the biggest thing I don't want to do, is rush it and do it again," he said.

"Just take my time ... I'll probably take the whole nine months and come back where I left off."

Staggs is also arranging a meeting with the NRL chief executive officer Andrew Abdo and the code's integrity unit after being served with a breach notice following an altercation at a pub in Dubbo in November.

The breach notice proposed Staggs be required to complete appropriate education after he allegedly provoked the altercation by using a homophobic slur when asked for a photo by a patron at the venue.

"I'm in the progress of doing that now with the welfare officer," Staggs said about the proposed meeting with Abdo.

"What I did is in the past now. I've got nothing against the bloke it happened to."

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