Corey Oates pushing for spot in Broncos pack

My bet is he believes this will boost his earning potential. Salary Cap being what it is, only so much $$ go to wingers - they’re pretty much bottom of the pile. Backrowers tend to be better paid.

Yeah I certainly didn't see much from Pearson when he was in 1st grade last season to make me think he'd be an upgrade over Oates this season. Maybe we're all looking a bit too much into it as well - it might all just be a bit of experimenting in the trials and Oates will be there on the wing in round 1 anyway...

We only got Mead due to complications on a work visa for France anyway I believe. Probably got out of the nrl at the right time. Opacic has gotten a lot of time in trials so I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a run at centre while Birds injured allowing Kahu to stay on the wing. Leaving just Isaako and Pearson for the one wing spot (assuming Oates is in the pack). I’m guessing... Pearson.

Ugh, ignore that...clearly Holmes replaced him... Maybe he was only in the first one for his combination with Boyd? Holmes did have experience playing with Slater for Aust iirc

Pearson is the only dedicated winger not in the starting side I can think of as Mead left last year, and he hasn't had the greatest performances in the games he's played. Although Isaako has shown a lot of promise as a full back. There's really not a lot of depth in the wings at the moment which makes me doubt Bennett will entertain this for long if things don't click quickly

Pretty sure the only reason he didn't make another appearance of QLD was because Slater came back into the squad which moved Boyd back to the wing

It just sounds to me like he doesn't enjoy being on the wing as much as he does being in the middle

Oh I completely agree with what you're saying, just was fairly certain he grew up playing back row. This might explain some of the confusion - "I was everywhere... fullback, centre, lock, back row. I wasn't really set on my position as a junior. Towards the end of school and in between I was playing a lot of back row," Oates said.( https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/nrl/broncos-manchild-corey-oates-finetuned-engine-on-wayne-bennetts-urgings-20150930-gjxvsb.html )

Yeah TB that's exactly it. It's not that he doesn't have the goods to be a great backrower, it's that he's already a great winger. It's potentially weakening one position for the Broncos to add depth to an area we are already very strong in. If injury strikes Gagai/Holmes it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see him picked for Qld on the wing despite playing backrow at club level, although with Boyd and GI back this season the Qld depth for outside backs is better than it was last year. I've been a bit out of the loop for the past couple of years on the Broncos youngsters/Qld Cup back-ups Emcie. Do you know who is in the running to take his place on the wing? I'd feel better if it was some absolute gun who simply had to have a place found for him but there's no names there really jumping out at me.

How could I forget Kaufusi... Well maybe he thinks his versatility makes him a candidate for the bench... Either way,good luck to him

Lots of people here confused where the bloke started... I remember when he started playing wing at the Broncs, and word was he was actually a backrower with toe. He has been a great winger, and I thought he was unfairly dropped last year from QLD. Turns out it didn't matter, as the replacement had a belter two games for QLD, but the first game wasn't his fault, it was good tactics and play by NSW to not allow him to wind up. He was obviously targeted as a danger player, and they planned accordingly. He is a great winger, still pretty young... I don't know about his body... something about his knees being a bit dicky... I hope he goes well no matter he plays. He is a good footballer I think.

Here's the Courier Mail/Tele story about his first few games for the Broncos in 2013 - debuted as a replacement for Jack Reed as a centre then went straight onto the wing, after playing fullback as a junior. As I said, they then tried using him as a reserve forward for a while before he cemented his place on wing. In any case, I think we're actually in broad agreement about the issue if not the details of his past positions. To move a rep-standard winger into a bench forward, particularly with the Broncos having strong depth in the back row but bugger all on the wings, just an odd call. Even stranger since Oates himself is pushing for it. Good luck to him - he has shown in the past that he can be a weapon coming off the bench with his size and speed but I just don't see how it is an improvement either for himself or the team. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/corey-oates-is-the-brisbane-broncos-great-hope/news-story/124f659dbfa6640f4f5917cd3ba1220e

As Emcie said, by all reports he approached Bennett and I don't understand it either but that's a selfish POV because of what he bought to the wing. I struggle to see him cracking the Broncos pack let alone the Qld team considering they have Kafusi, Lowe, Hess, Glasby, Papalii behind incumbents Gillett, Cooper, Maguire. Good luck to him.

Maybe he is thinking about those Origin pay cheques... Slater, Boyd, Gagai and Holmes are all clearly ahead of him with the selectors.. Gavin Cooper isn't getting any younger... Good luck to him if he is backing himself to make it as an Origin backrower

Played second row against the panthers in 2015(?) off the bench and scored the match winner off a great line of running isolating Soward if I remember correctly as well. Looking at the trials his line running still looks the goods but he’s reading in defence is a little suspect which is what Bennett would be more worried about.

I agree completely, I can't see how anything that he could bring in the second row would compensate for what the team loses on the wing

I agree RM I've thought that since the talk about him moving into the backrow started. What he offers with those one handed, around the corner post, miracle putdowns and kick return / early set metres far outweigh what I see as his potential as a bench backrower. I wonder if the Maroons would pick him as a winger from Brisbane's back row bench...? I think he's got potential to be a good backrower but he's a very good winger right now and doesn't need to learn the position.

The quote was from an interview in the Daily Tele

“Corey has made it clear to me he wants to play in the forwards, but it remains to be seen if it can work or not,” Bennett said. It was also reported that Bennett has given him two trials to prove he can. I don't know where you're getting you're info from mate, he might have played in several positions as a junior but he was predominantly a backrower, he was even named at second-row in the 2013 NYC team of the year. In 2014 he played 4 games in the second row and the rest off the bench, and apart from one game at center has played the rest of his career on the wing.

that's just it though - he didn't start in the second row at all. When he debuted back in 2013 it was as a replacement centre, then his first starts after that were all as a winger. Yet right from the start there has been this weird idea that he needs to be converted into a forward. When they moved him to the bench for a couple of seasons he was playing the role of a second rower, but then after cementing his role as a starting winger, scoring runaway length of the field tries Finals and earning Origin selection...it seems a real step backwards in his career to go back to being a reserve forward providing impact from the bench. Just double checked with some articles written around the time of his early games and it confirmed that he'd played fullback before joining the Broncos as well. If it's Oates himself pushing for this that just makes it all the more strange. Ah well, perhaps he'll end up being our Ruben Wiki - who started as a centre/winger for the Raiders before moving into the second row and then as he got older, slower and heavier ended up being a fearsome prop for the Warriors...