One of rugby league’s greatest centres Steve Renouf likes what he sees in Brisbane youngster Kotoni Staggs.
The 20-year-old scored two tries, made two line breaks, two line-break assists and ran for 144 metres in the Broncos’ 28-6 win over Canterbury last Thursday.
It continued a fine 2019 for Staggs, who has missed just one match for the Broncos this season after nine appearances in his first NRL campaign last year.
Renouf, who won four premierships with the Broncos and scored 142 tries in 183 games for the club, said Staggs has the skill and mentality to become a genuine NRL star.
“He’s been great, from his debut. He had a great debut for the club,” Renouf told AAP.
“I’ve been doing a bit of work with him through Deadly Choices (an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health initiative) and he’s just a good lad. He’s very focused on his footy.
“His performance last week was unbelievable.
“He’s had limited runs in the NRL but he’s matured very quickly. He’s got a good footy head on him and I’ll think he’ll just keep going and going for us.”
Staggs is just one of several young Broncos making a name for themselves at Red Hill under Anthony Seibold.
Teenage prop Payne Haas, Queensland State of Origin representatives David Fifita and Joe Ofahengaue, hooker Jake Turpin, forward Tom Flegler and halfback Tom Dearden have all played key roles throughout the season for Brisbane.
Renouf admits he had doubts about throwing so many youngsters in at once, but has come around to Seibold’s youthful team.
“I was personally a bit wary of that but you can see the way they’re playing – they’re going to be in-and-out of games because of their age but already they’re starting to show a little bit of maturity,” he said, as the Broncos prepare to face south-east Queensland rivals Gold Coast on Saturday.
“Look back at last week’s game and they play some good footy. They just need to back that up going into the next game as well.”