interesting stat about Corey; from emery last year he scored 13 tries and made 13 line breaks..
Hence every time he broke the line last year he basically scored.
Up to us to work out how to get him into that back field regularly. Obviously wont do that through he middle but assuming here he ends up in the backline after this 2nd row experiment finishes...
He seems like a poor man's Boyd Cordner.
Through the 20's he was a trying scorer out in the second row and now he has a workhorse mentality, which could allow him to be a serviceable second rower
I have some doubts about whether he could become a top line second rower though (and I believed they're shared across a few on this forum)
Agility and lateral movement - he doesn't have much of a step the big man
Offload and tackle busting - doesn't seem to have an offload (not always easy to display from the wing, but I can't recall too many) and doesn't seem to break a lot of tackles
Defence - sideways movement being an issue and also being able to protect the half... Matty G was as good at shooting out of the line and smacking the second rower as he was making cover tackles
Impact - not sure how to word it but when you see Cordner take a hitup it sounds like he gets absolutely belted (they can line him up due to a lack of footwork), but he never seems to get rocked. It's almost like he's attacking the line as much as they're trying to hit him (probably not great for a half having to defend him)... I'm not sure Oates has that. He runs into the middle from the wing already, but nowadays he's not making many post contact meters
Impact can also be said for defence and has the opposition fearing a run out on that edge knowing they'll get smacked (thinking Gillett, Wade Graham, etc.). It's part of defending the halves from second row and it's also about being able to get out and hit the opposition half, which is a Wade Graham speciality.
A lot of these things could've been displayed from his wing if he had it already (agility, footwork and tackle busting), but he seems like a Gavin Cooper/Alex Glenn style backrower, which is a dime a dozen type second rower to me
In saying that I've only seen some of his games at second row in the 20's and he did provide good impact in his rookie year coming off the bench in the second row... so maybe he does have some serious game at second row.
I would be interested from those in the know about how they think he'll go rather than me as an armchair coach