BRISBANE BRONCO’S fans aren’t common in the central west and young footballers who want to play for that city’s only NRL franchise are thin on the ground, but one local not only has those stars in his eyes, he has a contract with the club that is signed, sealed and delivered. The Bronco’s player development manager flew into Dubbo this week to finalise the deal with 17 year-old Wellington junior Kotoni Staggs, who now lives in Dubo but has stuck with the club where his career began in the U5s.Local lawyer and league fan Luke Clarke has been looking to manage local talent in the highest grade, he spotted Kotoni as a 15 year-old and talked to him about his potential future, and while half a dozen NRL clubs were keen, Kotoni only wanted to play with one club.“It’s been a big thing ever since I was a young kid, I’ve watched the NRL growing up, watched Darren Lockyer play and it’s always been a dream to play for the Broncos,” Katoni said.“I got an opportunity when Luke (Luke Clarke, manager) scouted me and then Broncos scouted me so I’ll go up there and get in with the Broncos.”Luke Clarke played league growing up in Cowra and finished high school at Forbes Red Bend College, a noted rugby league school – football and people are his passions.“I’ve integrated that into my legal practice, I’m an accredited player manager with the NRL, it’s a bit of a process you go through, you do some study, so some tests and you renew your accreditation yearly,” Clarke said.He says it’s a sensitive issue to manage young kids with bucket-loads of talent.“Kids, they get recruited at a young age and they’re under a lot of pressure so it’s just a matter of managing all those pressures and influences and Katoni’s been a lot of fun to manage and I’m looking forward to see him go through to the Broncos,” he said.“It was very important for me to meet Luke and he’s very supportive and you couldn’t meet a better bloke and he’s a good agent,” Kotoni said.So what brought the Bronco’s to NSW’S central west, when almost all their players are developed from Queensland junior grades.“We were initially tipped off by Luke, his manager, to have a look at Kotoni so I called a number of our scouts - Kotoni was only 15 turning 16 at this stage in this region to ask about Kotoni and got really positive reports so I flew him up to a development session at the club, worked with him up there and from there made a decision to offer him a contract at the Broncos,” said Simon Scanlan, the Brisbane Bronco’s league player development manager.“We don’t usually do a lot in NSW or country NSW, mostly south east QLD and northern QLD so Kotoni’s a player we’ve had on contract for two and a half years … it’s time for him to move up now and be part of the footy side.“We’ve extended Kotoni’s contract to go into senior football and move up to Brisbane at the end of this year to join the NYC squad and beyond that into the senior football ranks into the QLD Cup competition,” he said.Kotoni won’t be alone, he understands the daily struggles of moving from the country to a strange city are real enough without having the added pressure of an NRL career on the line.“I’ve got my girlfriend (Kiera Garling) moving up with me and she’s a big support behind me,” Kotoni said.“It is very hard when you get signed with a club that if you go by yourself you’re going to struggle but I’ve got support moving up with me so I should be all fine, it’s still going to be pretty hard but after I play a couple of games I should be starting to get into the routine.“I just want to go up there and do my best, I’ve always been a fan of football and I’ve always just wanted to set a goal and play NRL and for young kids down in Wellington, I just want to show that they’ve got to believe in themselves, I just want to give a bit more confidence to younger people,” he said.“The Broncos are probably the most professional sporting organisation in the country and my first experience when I went up there just amazed me, my first feeling was that it was a prejudice-free atmosphere and it was perfect for Katoni, it was the right place for him to develop as a footballer and probably as a person too,” Clarke said.“They’ve been very supportive and they’ve provided not only to Katoni but me with a fair bit of guidance how to manage my player and how to take him from a small town like Wellington and integrate him into professional sport.”Simon Scanlan said player welfare was paramount at the Broncos, with the club continuously working on a family friendly culture to prevent the common issues arising in the media all too often where young footballers get into trouble from all the money and attention.“Every club has their issues at times and we’ve had ours previously and I’m sure there’ll be some issues in the future but the club has a really good culture, it’s a very strong family feel about the club, you know it’s not just about the player it’s about the family as well that have a relationship with the club so for us,” Scanlan said.“It’s not that we bring a player to the club and if they work out they stay and if they don’t we kick ‘em out the back door, the family’s welcome as part of the club as well so we want a relationship not just with the player but their immediate family or parents or guardians, whoever’s involved there as well which then makes them feel part of our family.“We’re lucky like that, Wayne’s (Bennett) back at the club now, he’s really big on values and morals and standards, as is everyone in the club, so that’s not to say we won’t have our problems in the future, we probably will, but we have a really good feel around the club and everyone’s there for the right reasons, there to work hard so those problems are limited in our club at the moment so let’s hope it stays that way,” he said.Now it’s up to Kotoni to settle in and work hard – already he’s using his junior country career to develop as a player, this year moving from the backs, his usual positions at fullback or in the centres, to lock.“I’m playing lock at the moment, it’s a bit different from where I normally play as a back, fullback or centre but lock is a bit different, you’ve gotta get your forwards moving straight up through the pack but I do a good job at it and I’m captain at the moment over there as well,” Kotoni said, saying he relished the challenge to grow his knowledge and skills.“It is, it is, it’s a position that you’ve always got to be on the ball, always backing up, it’s like another 5/8, but I don’t take it as another 5/8, I just take my team forward to win the game,” he said. So where will he play at the Broncos? “That largely depends on Kotoni and the coach at the time so for us, for our program is getting the best young talent,” Simon Scanlan said.“At the moment he can play multiple positions which will give him the best opportunity to make the side in the U20s this year so we don’t pigeonhole players in certain positions and bring them to the club to play at that certain position, the coach will work out the strengths and weaknesses of each player and also work out what positions are available in the side so if they can play multiple positions which Kotoni can, it gives him multiple chances to make the side.”Kotoni said he’s steeling himself to give it the best shot.“I’ve just always gone to training in Wello and I’ve always put effort in and if you put effort in you always get rewarded, get a good mark off that, just putting in the effort and putting in the one percenters,” Kotoni said, saying he’ll have to put plenty of work in on both the mental and physical sides of his game.“It’s going to be both but it’s going to be more physical, it’s going to be pre-season, it’s going to be pretty hard for ‘cos I haven’t really done training like that and it’s going to you wake up, train, you go home, wake up, go to training, your mind’s going to tell you don’t have to do it but you have to tell yourself that you believe in yourself and just push extra hard.”He said he’s lucky to have been given this chance but said all his hard work through the junior grades was paying off.At this stage he’s hoping to make the first grade NRL side within three years.As for his mates who have already ribbed him about the move to Queensland.“I always know that I’m going to be a NSW boy but that’s just the team that I went for when I was a little kid and it’s a dream just to be going up there and playing with them and alongside some good athletes up there as well,” he said.I just want to go up there and do my best, I’ve always been a fan of football and I’ve always just wanted to set a goal and play NRL and for young kids down in Wellington, I just want to show that they’ve got to believe in themselves, I just want to give a bit more confidence to younger people.
