NRL 2024: Wendell Sailor urges off-contract Broncos to sacrifice substantial paydays to remain at club

Broncos legend Wendell Sailor has issued an emotional plea to the club’s off-contract stars, urging them to reject big-money offers to break Brisbane’s premiership drought. HAVE YOUR SAY.

Brisbane legend Wendell Sailor has appealed for Broncos stars to take pay cuts to keep their squad together amid fears strike centre Kotoni Staggs could be squeezed out of Red Hill.

Staggs was the Broncos’ match-winning hero in last year’s inaugural Dolphins derby and is primed to terrorise Redcliffe rival Jake Averillo in Friday night’s Battle of Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium.

But Staggs is fighting for his long-term future at Red Hill, with a looming $8 million salary-cap crunch leaving the Broncos with a headache to keep their grand-final roster intact.

The Broncos have already lost Tom Flegler, Herbie Farnworth, Keenan Palasia and Kurt Capewell and privately concede more big-name stars could reluctantly leave following upgrades for Pat Carrigan, Ezra Mam and Reece Walsh, who is close to finalising a $5.5 million extension.

Brisbane’s dynamic centre duo Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo are off-contract next year and the Broncos face an enormous salary-cap challenge to keep both at Red Hill.

Sailor says the answer is taking pay cuts to avoid an exodus, with the former Origin and Test flyer recalling how Brisbane’s greatest players shunned more lucrative deals to build a premiership dynasty.

Broncos legend Wendell Sailor. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

Club legends Darren Lockyer, Kevin Walters, Allan Langer, Shane Webcke and Petero Civoniceva all took less to win titles at Brisbane and Sailor urged Staggs and Cobbo to shun bigger bucks in a bid to snap the Broncos’ 18-year premiership drought.

“Clubs are going to be throwing big money at Kotoni and Selwyn. This is going to be a problem for the Broncos,” Sailor said.

“It’s going to be a real challenge for Brisbane to keep them all, because you have Kotoni coming off as well (in 2025).

“The Broncos are spending big money to keep Reece Walsh and Ezra Mam, but Selwyn is the next superstar they have to try and keep and I’d hate to see them lose Kotoni as well.

“The only way you keep these quality players under the salary cap is if they all decide to take a pay cut to keep the squad together.

“If you look at Penrith, Brisbane can build a dynasty like they have done.

“Nathan Cleary took less to stay (at the Panthers), but Penrith have lost quite a few guys like (Viliame) Kikau, (Steve) Crichton and (Matt) Burton.

“I hope the Broncos boys look at the Penrith system and say, ‘I know we can get more money elsewhere, but let’s stay together and get another trophy in the cabinet’.

“I’d love to see Kotoni and Selwyn stay because there is something very special building at the Broncos.”

Staggs is currently on $700,000, while Cobbo is on around $650,000 this season.

The latter has been linked with the Roosters and could attract offers in excess of $800,000 and possibly $1 million if rival clubs view Cobbo as a fullback, a position he ideally wants to play.

Staggs is a free agent from November 1 and his preference is to stay at a Broncos club that blooded him in 2018 and helped him through some turbulent off-field dramas in his embryonic years at Red Hill.

Staggs has now matured into a member of Brisbane’s leadership group and will reluctantly explore the open market if the Broncos cannot table a competitive deal.

“I have been a Bronco since day one,” Staggs said. “I followed them as a kid and always wanted to play for them.”

Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo will command plenty of attention on the open market. Picture: NRL

Former Broncos skipper Corey Parker believes Brisbane’s bean counters will need to work salary-cap miracles to prevent more departures.

“The reality is the Broncos face losing someone, they won’t be able to keep everyone,” Parker said.

“Reece will be upgraded, Ezra has been upgraded, Patty Carrigan has been upgraded, Payne Haas has been upgraded and Adam Reynolds has signed on for another 12 months.

“You only have to look at the Penrith Panthers. Go back to their premiership-winning side from three years ago and they have absolutely been pulled apart, but that’s what the salary-cap is designed to do ... to even out the competition.

“It’s the juggling act every NRL club is doing and the Broncos are no different.”

STAGGS VS COBBO: WHO WOULD YOU PICK?

The Broncos face forking out in excess of $1.5 million collectively – per season – to keep star centres Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo at Red Hill.

That’s the daunting fiscal reality for Brisbane’s bean counters tasked with ensuring the Broncos’ burgeoning juggernaut is not torn apart with a drought-breaking premiership tantalisingly in sight.

The NRL salary cap is an unforgiving beast. It bares his teeth at the worst possible time for clubs either basking in premiership success (hello Penrith) or on the brink of it, as Brisbane are discovering.

The next two years will present a salary-cap puzzle for the Broncos about as tricky as solving Rubik’s cube.

Brisbane lost four key players in the wake of last year’s grand final – Kurt Capewell, Tom Flegler, Keenan Palasia and Herbie Farnworth – and it will require brilliant salary-cap accountancy to avoid more pain.

The biggest migraine is how to duly reward Cobbo and Staggs without blowing the budget in a position where both centres cannot be paid supreme salaries.

Staggs is on $700,000 this season. Cobbo is on around $650,000. Both can head to free agency from November 1 and both, as human nature dictates, will command pay rises at the negotiating table.

Can the Broncos afford to keep both Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo? Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Staggs has been Brisbane’s No. 1 centre for four seasons, while Cobbo can play fullback, centre and wing and has spades of Indigenous magic that could see him attract an offer of close to $1 million on the open market.

The Roosters are hunting for centre talent. They have previously expressed interest in Cobbo. History shows they rarely lose a bidding war if they want their man.

Brisbane will soon create some financial wriggle room.

Skipper Adam Reynolds took a pay cut to stay for another 12 months and will almost certainly retire at the end of next year. Martin Taupau is on $350,000 this season and the off-contract 34-year-old is unlikely to be re-signed. Hooker Cory Paix ($320,000) is likely to be moved on when his two-year upgrade expires next season.

Big decisions to made over how much the Broncos can afford to pay the premium centres pairing. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

That frees up more than $1 million, but the Broncos have recently secured Ezra Mam ($4 million) and Pat Carrigan ($4.2m) to mega five-year upgrades.

Brisbane also went into spending overdrive to keep superstar fullback Reece Walsh, whose salary will rise from $400,000 last season to an average of $1.1 million over the next five years.

The perceived lifestyle benefits of Queensland have always kept Brisbane in the fight.

A former Broncos official once said he could go to the negotiating table offering 20 per cent less because that’s what Queensland kids such as Wendell Sailor, Allan Langer and Darren Lockyer would accept to stay in Brisbane.

But that would be a dangerous tactic to adopt with Cobbo or Staggs, who hails from NSW and almost joined the Knights three years ago.

Penrith have copped a number of salary-cap bullets, yet still managed to surge to a hat-trick of titles with superb roster management and faith in their junior nursery.

The challenge for the Broncos is to keep this squad together long enough to win just one premiership, let alone three.