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

 

[Foordy]

From memory last contract he signed was for 300-350k. comparative to min wage (which I think is 110, or at least was).

Isn't the veteran allowance across the entire club, not just one player? Mind you given our turnover we probably don't really have a lot of players that qualify for it so he might be getting a decent chunk of it.

Any future contract won't be much more than minimum wage anyway, so definitely worth offering it to him for depth.

And we do need some wing depth in our top 30, because even if we do "pull a decent performing winger from the QLD cup and tell them they are playing for a top 30 contract", that can't happen before round 11

 

[Wolfie]

Oates isn't making much of an impact anymore and he's costing 3x the price. This is the squad management stuff that we laud other clubs for, knowing when outlay is no longer returning similar value.

He's on a pretty small salary as it is now , and despite him losing pace its not like he's playing poorly. I think the value he is giving us is fine. It's not all about what he does on the field as well. He's a positive influence off it foe a lot of our young players as well.

My point is though, one of the best wingers in recent times in Q Cup couldn't really make a dent in the NRL. What makes you think there are loads of them ready to step up and push the likes of Oates out ( if we do even use him as a winger )

 

[Wolfie]

From memory last contract he signed was for 300-350k. comparative to min wage (which I think is 110, or at least was).

Isn't the veteran allowance across the entire club, not just one player? Mind you given our turnover we probably don't really have a lot of players that qualify for it so he might be getting a decent chunk of it.

He's not on $350k a year. He gave up a year of his contract and took a pay cut so we could use his money for some other contract upgrades they didn't deserve.

 

[Renegade]

Any future contract won't be much more than minimum wage anyway, so definitely worth offering it to him for depth.

He's on a pretty small salary as it is now , and despite him losing pace its not like he's playing poorly. I think the value he is giving us is fine. It's not all about what he does on the field as well. He's a positive influence off it foe a lot of our young players as well.

My point is though, one of the best wingers in recent times in Q Cup couldn't really make a dent in the NRL. What makes you think there are loads of them ready to step up and push the likes of Oates out ( if we do even use him as a winger )

Great, if it's for min wage then no worries. I don't believe in paying more than that for 2nd string wingers. It's not good cap management IMO.

 

[Wolfie]

Great, if it's for min wage then no worries. I don't believe in paying more than that for 2nd string wingers. It's not good cap management IMO.

But the plan wasn't for him to be a winger really this year. It's just kind of happened through circumstance.

Our cap management has been stuffed up by overpaying the likes of Haas and Piakura.

 

[Renegade]

Our cap management has been stuffed up by overpaying the likes of Haas and Piakura.

Probably, but you don't make a bad situation worse by overpaying for 2nd string wingers.

In any case if he's on close to min wage or just over, it's not an issue.

 

[Wolfie]

Probably, but you don't make a bad situation worse by overpaying for 2nd string wingers.

In any case if he's on close to min wage or just over, it's not an issue.

He's probably on about $250k right now.

I think our squad makeup is going to get a whole lot worse when we have to upgrade Walshy.

 

[Ondi]

This is what scares me, not gonna lie. (Grover just helps cover that fear)

 

[Big Del]

He's probably on about $250k right now.

I think our squad makeup is going to get a whole lot worse when we have to upgrade Walshy.

Might sound crazy , but ,,,
I`d say thanks , but no thanks Reece , offer Trey Fuller half of Walsh`s money and say bye to Payne and buy 1 veteran and a cpl of rookies.

They are both over rated IMO . Walsh is good when he`s "on" .But not "on " enough and Payne doesn`t influence the outcomes of matches enough for his money .

Then find a new tackling coach , an attack coach and a forwards coach .
And start again .
Easy peasy . LOL .

 

[Ondi]

Might sound crazy , but ,,,
I`d say thanks , but no thanks Reece , offer Trey Fuller half of Walsh`s money and say bye to Payne and buy 1 veteran and a cpl of rookies.

They are both over rated IMO . Walsh is good when he`s "on" .But not "on " enough and Payne doesn`t influence the outcomes of matches enough for his money .

Then find a new tackling coach , an attack coach and a forwards coach .
And start again .
Easy peasy . LOL .

They are not letting that Reece money go!! Can't say I disagree with you though.

 

[Jedhead]

Might sound crazy , but ,,,
I`d say thanks , but no thanks Reece , offer Trey Fuller half of Walsh`s money and say bye to Payne and buy 1 veteran and a cpl of rookies.

They are both over rated IMO . Walsh is good when he`s "on" .But not "on " enough and Payne doesn`t influence the outcomes of matches enough for his money .

Then find a new tackling coach , an attack coach and a forwards coach .
And start again .
Easy peasy . LOL .

I think you are onto something there.

But imagine the outcry when we decide to let them go and they drop into a team that is just on the cusp of a premiership window and they win it. The cries of anguish as they claim that could have been us would be deafening.
The fact we messed up a GF in no small measure to Walshy's poor defence is neither here nor there is it?

Piakura is another we have paid large sums for when we were in a panic situation and not wanting to be seen as a sinking ship. He is so over-rated and has done virtually nothing. He gets injured just practicing his job FFS!

I agree about Haas as well. First he wanted to leave the club then we give him huge dollars, nek minute his form drops by a huge margin as he sits counting his filthy lucre. His family don't help but why doesn't he take that frustration out during a game. Channel that shit into controlled aggression. We saw a bit of it in origin this year, but it has been missing in any of our games the whole season.

Pat Carrigan, Corey Oates and Corey Jensen are the only three I see putting in every game. Riki is hot and cold, Kobe has dropped off the face of the planet and the depth we brought in was kitchen sink putrid.

Reyno is held together with a huge amount of black nasty but at least he brings leadership as the rest of them are a bunch of soft sheep who think leadership is something that sails on the ocean.

We are a deadset rabble in terms of cap balance. We have our money invested in potential mainly and potential needs a lot to go right before it comes to fruition.

Our priority needs to be a defensive coach with nous. Then we need players who want to bleed for the jersey.

Too many of the up and coming players have lost sight of what it's all about.

For them it's fame and fortune. Their catch cry is "ding, ding...I'm on the bus **** the rest of you".

To lose those games against the Sharks and the Titans was a sure sign that they have lost interest in 'putting in'.

Kev needs to show he's a coach and start making them accountable. At the minute they all think their spots are guaranteed because of injuries. I'd drop a few prima donnas and bring in guys from Q cup who would die for the chance to represent us.

 

[Sproj]

Haas doesn't put in every game? Turn it up man, some of the stuff in this thread is just disgraceful reading.

This is a guy who has won 5 player of the season awards and has been battling a significant knee injury all year and still puts up numbers other props could only dream of.

Our team is busted, not lacking in effort. How many games have we had with ALL or even most of Carrigan, Haas, Reynolds, Walsh and Mam on the field at the same time? Right there is your engine room and the three important quarters of our spine.

I know it is difficult sometimes to let facts get in the way of a good tantrum, but some of this is just stupid.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Might sound crazy , but ,,,
I`d say thanks , but no thanks Reece , offer Trey Fuller half of Walsh`s money and say bye to Payne and buy 1 veteran and a cpl of rookies.

 

[Mr Fourex]

But the plan wasn't for him to be a winger really this year. It's just kind of happened through circumstance.

I don't think the plan was to play him back row either was it.......?

I'd say the plan at the beginning of the season was that Corey won't be playing NRL.

 

[Wolfie]

I don't think the plan was to play him back row either was it.......?

I'd say the plan at the beginning of the season was that Corey won't be playing NRL.

He was training as back row depth but he wasn't there to be a starter.

 

[Renegade]

Some of these takes are wild.

 

[Wolfie]

Haas doesn't put in every game? Turn it up man, some of the stuff in this thread is just disgraceful reading.

This is a guy who has won 5 player of the season awards and has been battling a significant knee injury all year and still puts up numbers other props could only dream of.

Our team is busted, not lacking in effort. How many games have we had with ALL or even most of Carrigan, Haas, Reynolds, Walsh and Mam on the field at the same time? Right there is your engine room and the three important quarters of our spine.

I know it is difficult sometimes to let facts get in the way of a good tantrum, but some of this is just stupid.

I don't think Paynos output is really in question, it's his value for money. We would have got better value keeping Flegler on about $800k over Payne even though he isnt as good and use that $400k to put towards a better backrower for example. Team would be stronger overall then imo.

We have to get over this obsession we seem to have of trying to keep every superstar. It's backfiring.

 

[Renegade]

I don't think Paynos output is really in question, it's his value for money. We would have got better value keeping Flegler on about $800k over Payne even though he isnt as good and use that $400k to put towards a better backrower for example. Team would be stronger overall then imo.

We have to get over this obsession we seem to have of trying to keep every superstar. It's backfiring.

If Reynolds was on the park maybe we'd have a better idea. That has been the single biggest issue for us this year.

The biggest question is who is after Reynolds? Are we going to go for another stop gap while we blood Black or are we all in on him?