Kotoni Staggs opens up on Broncos future, Gehamat Shibasaki a round 1 bolter
Kotoni Staggs reveals what it means to join the Broncos leadership group and his plans to keep Selwyn Cobbo at the Broncos, while Gehamat Shibasaki is set to complete a remarkable comeback story.
NRL
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Kotoni Staggs has declared he has no intention of quitting the Broncos and has appealed for club bosses to do everything possible to keep backline partner Selwyn Cobbo at the Broncos.
As revealed by this masthead, Broncos chiefs are in the advanced stages of securing Staggs to a $2 million-plus upgrade and Brisbane’s No. 1 centre confirmed he has no desire to leave.
The Broncos are hoping to finalise Staggs’ extension until 2028 or 2029 before round 1 and stage two will be retaining the off-contract Cobbo under the salary cap.
There are fears Brisbane don’t have the salary cap space to keep both Staggs and Cobbo, especially with the latter having attracted interest from NRL rivals prepared to pay up to $1 million a season if the Cherbourg whiz plays fullback.
Staggs could earn upwards of $800,000 a season on the open market, but the Wellington flyer’s preference is to remain at the Broncos in his quest to snap Brisbane’s 19-year title drought.
“I love the club,” said Staggs, who will launch his 2025 campaign in Saturday night’s final pre-season trial against the Bulldogs at Kayo Stadium.
“I have been at the club for 11 years and been a professional for eight years.
“It means a lot to me and since I was a kid, this is where I wanted to be.
“I couldn’t see myself anywhere else. I love it here. Time will tell, but I just have to play good footy. I am here this year, but I have to perform well and keep doing my best every time I put this jersey on.”
It’s understood the Broncos will rubberstamp a three or four-year extension for Staggs, who is now a valued member of Brisbane’s leadership group.
Staggs was famously summoned to a crisis meeting with NRL boss Andrew Abdo following an off-field incident in 2021, but fast forward to 2025 and the 26-year-old is entrenched at Brisbane and keen to ink a new deal.
Asked if he doesn’t want to leave the Broncos, Staggs said: “You can say it like that. I am comfortable here.
“I will leave that in my manager’s hands. All I need to focus on is the first round coming up and playing good footy and letting my footy do the talking. I’ve got good people behind me and I will leave it in their hands. We’ll see what happens.”
The Broncos have yet to table a new deal for Cobbo, with new coach Michael Maguire keen to monitor the Maroons matchwinner’s form and attitude after a turbulent 2024 campaign.
Both proud of their Indigenous heritage, Staggs said he would be surprised if Cobbo walked out on the Broncos club he dreamed of representing as a kid in Cherbourg.
“Obviously we all know what happens with clubs,” he said.
“A club has only got a certain amount of money but I would love for us to stay.
“Me and Selwyn ... even I have talked to him about it and he loves the club as much as I do.
“All we want to do is play good footy for the club and he will have the same people behind him supporting him.
“I love being around Cobbo. That little smile when he walks in every day to training, you know he is there to train but he is relaxed and chilled and doesn’t talk much.
“When we do get him talking, he does get us smiling. I love that about him.
“Selwyn is Selwyn and I can’t wait to get back on the field with him.”
Now entering his eighth season, the 121-game Test and Origin centre says his NRL career could have easily gone off the rails without the support of the Broncos.
“It has shaped me into the person I am today,” he says of his rise to Brisbane’s five-man leadership group.
“I had a lot to get through in the past but I have surrounded myself with good people and people who want to go far in life.
“That’s what I want to do.
“As a leader at this organisation, it’s massive for myself.
“I didn’t think a young kid from Wellington would be in the leadership group at the club he loved growing up.
“It’s a special moment for myself and everything I do is for my family and my loved ones.”
BRONCOS BOLTER ROCKETS INTO ROUND 1 CONTENTION
Gehamat Shibasaki is set to complete one of the NRL’s most remarkable comeback stories with Brisbane’s train-and-trial reject emerging as a Broncos centre bolter for their 2025 premiership opener.
Brisbane coach Michael Maguire revealed Shibasaki has rocketed into the mix to partner Kotoni Staggs at centre against the Roosters on March 6 – seven years after ‘Gem’ was first blooded at the Broncos by Wayne Bennett.
The NRL journeyman will start in the centres alongside Staggs in Saturday night’s final pre-season trial against the Bulldogs at Kayo Stadium.
Having arrived over summer on a $1000-a-week training deal, Shibasaki was upgraded to a development contract a fortnight ago, making him eligible for round 1 selection.
Selwyn Cobbo started last season in the centres with Staggs, but his return to the wing has created a vacancy at left centre _ and Shibasaki is primed to pounce.
The maligned 26-year-old has been chewed up and spat out by four clubs in five years, not to mention a brief stint in Japanese rugby in 2022, but Shibasaki is making the most of his second coming at Red Hill.
The rugged centre overcame an early knock to his knee to score Brisbane’s opening try in last Sunday’s 50-12 thumping of the Titans and exhibits the defensive toughness Maguire wants from the Broncos this season.
Speed machine Deine Mariner was the red-hot favourite to start at centre, but Maguire lauded Shibasaki’s attitude and confirmed he is a serious contender for Brisbane’s round 1 opener at Allianz Stadium.
“I’m looking at him for round 1, definitely,” Maguire said.
“It will all come down to this week’s final trial and Gehamat has a great chance to continue his form against the Bulldogs.
“If Gem keeps performing, the opportunities will be there for him.
“His application in the pre-season has really impressed me.
“He has been in the NRL system for a number of years, but I feel like he has matured, I wanted to see his commitment and he’s definitely done that.
“With what he has done in pre-season and the trials, he’s given himself a real good shot.”
Well-built at 96kg and 184cm, Shibasaki was once one of the hottest backline prospects in Queensland rugby league.
Such was his talent, the Townsville-born flyer made the Queensland under-20s Origin side for three consecutive seasons between 2016-18.
Shibasaki played alongside the likes of young Maroons AJ Brimson, Harry Grant, Phil Sami, Brodie Croft, Pat Carrigan, Tom Flegler, Corey Horsburgh and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
But while several of those names graduated into NRL stars, Shibasaki struggled to take the next step, playing 30 games in a six-year stretch that took him to the Broncos, Newcastle, the Cowboys and Souths.
The descendant of a Japanese pearl diver who emigrated to the Torres Strait in the late 1800s, Shibasaki even moved to the Land of the Rising Sun in 2022, playing four games of Japanese rugby.
But after scoring three tries for Green Rockets Tokatsu, Shibasaki craved a return to the NRL.
Underlining his desire to win a longer-term deal at the Broncos, he has left behind his young child in Townsville to give his family a better future if he fires at Brisbane.
“Gem is a lovely young man,” Maguire said.
“In my first meeting with him, I could see he was really hungry and I’m impressed that Gehamat has been prepared to move to Brisbane away from his family, it’s a big driver in why he wants to succeed here, doing it for his young one.”
Shibasaki played one NRL game at Souths last year on the wing alongside Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton, but Maguire believes his solid defensive frame can complement the strike of Staggs at centre.
“I like his style of defence,” he said.
“He’s had to change his body shape and he’s done that. I like that he is very coachable. He sits in the structures that we want.
“I’ve said to everyone at this club in pre-season that I will give everyone a chance, positions are up for grabs ... and Gehamat is living up to what I’m asking of the group.”
Originally published as Kotoni Staggs opens up on Broncos future, Gehamat Shibasaki a round 1 bolter
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