NEWS Off-contract Oates faces uncertain future at Broncos

Brisbane veteran Corey Oates has not received a contract offer for next season from the club and says he will almost certainly finish his NRL career a one-club man.

The off-contract 29-year-old winger has played 211 NRL games with the Broncos and has inked one-year extensions late in seasons in the past, but at this stage the club has not opened talks for a new deal.

Oates was asked whether he would be a Bronco in 2025.

"Hopefully," he said.

"As I have said, probably the 20 times you have asked me, I will leave it up to the club.

"I have always made it pretty well known that I am not going to go anywhere. It is always either going to be here or that will be it. If there is something put forward, I will look at it with my family.

"I just want to enjoy the rest of the year and hopefully we can go all the way. I still feel like we can."

Oates is likely to retire if he does not get a new Broncos deal, although he is open to the possibility of a short deal elsewhere.

"It is probably not a definite no but it would be a pretty hard decision for me to leave the club I have been at since I was 14 or 15," he said.

"I have always wanted to be a one-club player and that was always going to be here."

Oates has scored 121 career tries and is third on the all-time Broncos list, just one behind Darren Lockyer.

The lanky winger arrived at the club in 2011, the same year Lockyer retired, before debuting in 2013.

"It is great company to be in," Oates said.

"Locky finished and I started. I found out I would be coming here to play and train as a kid and all I wanted to do was have a training session with my idol growing up.

"He retired the year I got here which was pretty hard to cop but to be up on that board with him is just as good.

"If I can equal or get past him it would be great but I have never been in it for all the accolades for myself.

"It is about playing the game I loved my whole life and being part of a club I grew up watching and supporting."

Oates conceded Steve Renouf's record of 142 tries was probably a bridge too far.

Oates missed training on Monday but said a knee niggle would not keep him out of Saturday night's home clash with St George Illawarra.

"It is just old age. It is actually all good," Oates said.

"It copped a bit of a knock and there was a bit of a flare-up.

"It was always the plan just to give it a rest and keep me ready for the bigger training sessions during the week."

The Broncos who have lost their last five games, only have 17 of their top 30 to pick from against the Dragons due to injury and State of Origin duty.

Oates said that statistic was "confronting" on one level but added the Broncos still had a "great team" and plenty of strike weapons with Deine Mariner, Kotoni Staggs and Ezra Mam in the side.

"For us it about completing, sticking to the game plan and working hard," Oates said.

Canberra Times

 

[I bleed Maroon]

He's out of time, I'm afraid. At the very least his winger days are over, whether or not he can make it worth our while being a bench second rower is yet to be seen. I honestly can't see a place for him in the 17 next year when we're truly full strength.

14. Smoothy/Mozer
15. Hetherington
16. Willison
17. Te Kura

Where does Oates fit into there?

 

[Wolfie]

He's out of time, I'm afraid. At the very least his winger days are over, whether or not he can make it worth our while being a bench second rower is yet to be seen. I honestly can't see a place for him in the 17 next year when we're truly full strength.

14. Smoothy/Mozer
15. Hetherington
16. Willison
17. Te Kura

Where does Oates fit into there?

He doesnt have to fit in there. As he said last year, he knows his standing at the Broncos and the role he has here at this stage of his career.

We should offer him another year even if its on a lowish wage. He's decent backup and he wouldnt have played as much this year if our recruitment wasnt so horrific and we didnt have so many injured.

He sacrificed money so we could offer improved deals to others, and he gave up a year of his contract as well to free up cash. Apart from Carrigan, nobody else has really took less than they could have got for the good of the team so personally, i think we owe him. If he dug his heels in there wouldn't have been enough money to upgrade others. Pity a few others didnt follow his lead.

 

[BroncsFan]

Only issue that I have with it is our depth has been tested this year and I think the balance of our squad looks to be off.

We already know that he's struggling to keep up on the wing as it is, so what kind of depth is he providing now... ignoring the minimum wage component, because he is taking up an all important roster spot, but not necessarily able to provide the value.

Rogers has been promoted to the Top 30, along with Coby and Leota, as well as Baker, Gos, Hunt and Paix being on the books.

Where is the room to move to improve our depth if we just end up extending all the current depth guys that we know aren't really ready or that we don't necessarily want to be playing much.

There's 13 roster spots outside your Top 17 that would be representing the Top 30... at the moment the below guys are what we've got outside our Top 16-17... that is 11 guys signed to at least the end of next year, so we've basically got 2-3 roster spots left to fill the rest of our depth... and we still don't really have a back up second rower and Karapani is not even contracted to next year.

The R&R team need to get a move on, because they've got a lot of work to do to get the roster into better shape.

Depth off contract end of 2025
1. Fletcher Baker
2. Cory Paix
3. Tristan Sailor
4. Blake Mozer
5. Jaiyden Hunt
6. Jack Gosiewski
7. Israel Leota (Top 30 contract next year)
8. Coby Black (NRL contracts has Dev contract then nothing, but apparently he's signed to next year per 1910)

Contracted to 2026:
9. Jock Madden
10. Josh Rogers (added to Top 30)
11. Ben Te Kura

Not contracted beyond this year:
- Josiah Karapani
- Delouise Hoeter
- Corey Oates
- Marty Taupau
- Jordan Pereira (retired)

 

[Wolfie]

Only issue that I have with it is our depth has been tested this year and I think the balance of our squad looks to be off.

We already know that he's struggling to keep up on the wing as it is, so what kind of depth is he providing now... ignoring the minimum wage component, because he is taking up an all important roster spot, but not necessarily able to provide the value.

Rogers has been promoted to the Top 30, along with Coby and Leota, as well as Baker, Gos, Hunt and Paix being on the books.

Where is the room to move to improve our depth if we just end up extending all the current depth guys that we know aren't really ready or that we don't necessarily want to be playing much.

There's 13 roster spots outside your Top 17 that would be representing the Top 30... at the moment the below guys are what we've got outside our Top 16-17... that is 11 guys signed to at least the end of next year, so we've basically got 2-3 roster spots left to fill the rest of our depth... and we still don't really have a back up second rower and Karapani is not even contracted to next year.

The R&R team need to get a move on, because they've got a lot of work to do to get the roster into better shape.

Depth off contract end of 2025
1. Fletcher Baker
2. Cory Paix
3. Tristan Sailor
4. Blake Mozer
5. Jaiyden Hunt
6. Jack Gosiewski
7. Israel Leota (Top 30 contract next year)
8. Coby Black (NRL contracts has Dev contract then nothing, but apparently he's signed to next year per 1910)

Contracted to 2026:
9. Jock Madden
10. Josh Rogers (added to Top 30)
11. Ben Te Kura

Not contracted beyond this year:
- Josiah Karapani
- Delouise Hoeter
- Corey Oates
- Marty Taupau
- Jordan Pereira (retired)

Apart from him slowing down, he isnt really playing particularly badly. None of the younger guys are stepping up yet so another 12 month contract for Oatsey makes sense. If he hadnt been pushed back to the wing i still think he's a better back row option than Hunt and Gosiewski. While he can offer cover in a couple of positions, we probably need to decide to leave him as back row depth and use him on the wing only in extreme emergencies.

Looking at that list i dont think anyone can deny we have a lot of work to do. Our back row options are horrific really, and our 2 first choices havent been that great. We lack strike in that back row area. We need to pull a few rabbits out of the hat imo if we want to let go the likes of Hoeter and Oatsey.

I still think if he will sign cheaply enough, we owe the bloke another year personally because as i said, he's sacrificed a lot of money to stay here to help others.

 

[BroncsFan]

Apart from him slowing down, he isnt really playing particularly badly. None of the younger guys are stepping up yet so another 12 month contract for Oatsey makes sense. If he hadnt been pushed back to the wing i still think he's a better back row option than Hunt and Gosiewski. While he can offer cover in a couple of positions, we probably need to decide to leave him as back row depth and use him on the wing only in extreme emergencies.

Looking at that list i dont think anyone can deny we have a lot of work to do. Our back row options are horrific really, and our 2 first choices havent been that great. We lack strike in that back row area. We need to pull a few rabbits out of the hat imo if we want to let go the likes of Hoeter and Oatsey.

I still think if he will sign cheaply enough, we owe the bloke another year personally because as i said, he's sacrificed a lot of money to stay here to help others.

I think if the R&R team are able to cull some of the deadwood that we've accumulated in our Top 30, then there is room to keep Oates, but they need to get moving... because Oates is more deserving of a Top 30 spot than some of the others on the list.

Sailor is likely to ask for a release, but then we have no back up fullback. It would basically become Cobbo, but he's a starter so we still need an outside back to fill in his spot.

Paix they've been trying to offload, but can't find a taker.

Madden, Rogers and Coby means we now have 3 depth halves in the Top 30 + our 4 hookers... 7 spots on halves and hookers

Israel Leota has jagged a Top 30 spot based on who knows what... apparently being tall is enough for the R&R team to lock him in.


I've got concerns about the current R&R... we had Nolan who made some terrible calls leading to a spoon and his understudy was Scanlon, Ikin came in and basically saved us, but then got demoted at the end of 2022/early 2023 and it's only taken like 18 months for the roster to look a mess again.

 

[BooKhaki]

Should absolutely offer him another deal. The fact is, we can pay him extreme unders knowing he won't want to leave, and he is a very handy squad member and back up.

 

[winslow_wong]

So we’re not extending Oates or taupau. Who’s coming in to replace those two? Hope there’s some sort of plan in place

 

[Wolfie]

I think if the R&R team are able to cull some of the deadwood that we've accumulated in our Top 30, then there is room to keep Oates, but they need to get moving... because Oates is more deserving of a Top 30 spot than some of the others on the list.

Sailor is likely to ask for a release, but then we have no back up fullback. It would basically become Cobbo, but he's a starter so we still need an outside back to fill in his spot.

Paix they've been trying to offload, but can't find a taker.

Madden, Rogers and Coby means we now have 3 depth halves in the Top 30 + our 4 hookers... 7 spots on halves and hookers

Israel Leota has jagged a Top 30 spot based on who knows what... apparently being tall is enough for the R&R team to lock him in.


I've got concerns about the current R&R... we had Nolan who made some terrible calls leading to a spoon and his understudy was Scanlon, Ikin came in and basically saved us, but then got demoted at the end of 2022/early 2023 and it's only taken like 18 months for the roster to look a mess again.

Paix is an issue. He has plenty of interest, but his contract at Brisbane is preventing him from taking a financial hit to leave, and we dont seem keen to chip in to move him on.

 

[Wolfie]

So we’re not extending Oates or taupau. Who’s coming in to replace those two? Hope there’s some sort of plan in place

I'd say Taupau is covered by Te Kura. Thats what they will be hoping i reckon anyway.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

I'd say Taupau is covered by Te Kura. Thats what they will be hoping i reckon anyway.

We still need to recruit some good budget depth, otherwise we will cop exactly what we did this year with carrying probably the worst bench in the NRL for 8+ weeks. Snap up some 28-30 year old toilers/journeymen, preferably with a bit of bite to go with their bark.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Gotta find depth that is versatile. Got loads of middles but no depth on the edge. A few backs that can play a few positions be nice too.

 

[theshed]

He doesnt have to fit in there. As he said last year, he knows his standing at the Broncos and the role he has here at this stage of his career.

We should offer him another year even if its on a lowish wage. He's decent backup and he wouldnt have played as much this year if our recruitment wasnt so horrific and we didnt have so many injured.

He sacrificed money so we could offer improved deals to others, and he gave up a year of his contract as well to free up cash. Apart from Carrigan, nobody else has really took less than they could have got for the good of the team so personally, i think we owe him. If he dug his heels in there wouldn't have been enough money to upgrade others. Pity a few others didnt follow his lead.

Starting to think you’re last name is Oates

 

[Sproj]

Oates is a club legend and is not even 30 yet. He’s been carrying a knee injury all year which is clearly hampering him, I back him to have another 2-3 decent years left in him. He’s in a different spot to other list cloggers due to his legend status. Plus if he comes good, we get good back and second row cover as a 17 in our first team.

Should definitely re-sign him. You need to have guys on a minimum wage, you aren’t finding better at that price point than Oates.

 

[BroncsFan]

Paix is an issue. He has plenty of interest, but his contract at Brisbane is preventing him from taking a financial hit to leave, and we dont seem keen to chip in to move him on.

I think at this point you just bite the bullet to get the roster spot back... you end up taking a hit for 12 months... but we don't need 4 hookers + 3 depth halves.

Worst case you play Madden in hooker off the bench or something... or Bukowski is probably getting bumped up to development sometime next year anyway.

 

[Wolfie]

Starting to think you’re last name is Oates

I'm just not seeing anyone really stepping up to take his place in the role he provides.

And besides that, if you can't look after blokes who give up good money for the good of the squad it's not a very good look really.

 

[nopatience101]

Great clubman, but his times up unfortunately.

 

[Foordy]

Paix is an issue. He has plenty of interest, but his contract at Brisbane is preventing him from taking a financial hit to leave, and we dont seem keen to chip in to move him on.

His contract isn't preventing him from taking a financial hit to move on ... he's choosing not to do it.

meanwhile, it's hurting his future NRL career IMO. he should back himself and move on to a club where he may have a chance at first grade. his contract may be big for a 4th string (in their position) reserve grader, but not for an NRL hooker.

Given the size of his contract, i'm not sure us chipping in is even worthwhile to us. IIRC, he is on about $300k a year. say we cover half of it, and we free up $150k, and we would still need to fill his spot with another minimum wage player, so in reality we don't save anything by paying some of his contract to move him on.