Broncos star Kotoni Staggs has opened up on the secret shoulder injury he carried throughout the second half of last season.
Staggs’ State of Origin debut was cut short when he copped a knock to his shoulder in game one. New South Wales doctors thought it was a bad cork — and so did the Broncos’ medical team when he returned to club duties.
He sat out of the Broncos’ next game but played every match after that.
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“Every time somebody would go on my inside shoulder my arm just went dead and I couldn’t feel it,” Staggs said on Thursday.
“The feeling would come back later in the game and it just did that for the remainder of the season so I knew something was wrong with it.
“I think that was one of the other things going through last season, my shoulder was pretty sore every game so I just had to strap it up because I didn’t want to let the boys down or get surgery during the season because we almost made finals.
“I took the risk and played the whole season with it and then got it operated on.”
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The good news is that Staggs’ recovery is going well. He moved out of the no-contact training bib and is expected to be right for the trials.
It’s a relief for the powerhouse centre, who admitted he was a long way of himself in the opening rounds of last season.
“To be honest my first games at the start of the season weren’t where I wanted to be, especially coming from an ACL injury as well,” Staggs said.
“To miss just one game all year though, that was a bonus for me. But I think I was really trying to support my injury more than playing good footy — I had that in the back of my head, I didn’t want to do it again.”
Staggs is planning for a much more damaging season, declaring: “There’s a lot more footy I can show.” And he’s been working on one particular element of his game.
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“I just think the big thing is defence wins games and I want to be good in my defence, my decisions and how I read my plays,” he said.
“I just want to work with my right edge and be comfortable with the person on the in and outside of me.”
The Broncos finished 2022 on a sour note. After going on a seven-game winning streak and hitting the top four they lost five of their last six games and finished ninth.
Missing the finals has lit a fire in Staggs, who is hoping for redemption this year.
“It does (make you hungrier),” he said.
“We had our hands on the top four and thought we were going to play finals but it just went down hill so quick.
“This year we want to prove a point and make our mark, be in the top four and hopefully go all the way.”
