Xavier Coates

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Xavier Coates
Personal information
Full nameXavier Coates
Born (2001-03-12) 12 March 2001 (age 20)
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Height194 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
Playing information
PositionWing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2019–21 Brisbane Broncos 33 17 0 0 68
2022– Melbourne Storm 0 0 0 0 0
Total 33 17 0 0 68
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2019 Papua New Guinea 1 1 0 0 4
2020–21 Queensland 5 2 0 0 8
As of 2 June 2021
Source: [1]

Xavier Coates is a Papua New Guinea international rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Melbourne Storm in the NRL.

He has played for Queensland in the State of Origin series.

Coates will join the Melbourne Storm for the 2022 National Rugby League season.

Early life[]

Coates was born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.[2] As an infant he moved with his family to Australia and initially spent two years living in Cairns before settling on the Gold Coast.[3]

He attended Marymount College throughout his upbringing and began pursuing an athletics career in primary school.[4] His goal was to represent Papua New Guinea at the Olympics[5] but former NRL player and Marymount teacher Matt Geyer organised a phone call with then-Queensland captain Greg Inglis[6] and the pair convinced Coates to pursue a career in rugby league instead.[7] Coates named Inglis as his sporting idol growing up[8] and was nicknamed 'Little GI' by his Broncos teammates due to the similarities in playing style.[9]

Junior career[]

Xavier Coates began playing junior football on the Gold Coast for the Currumbin Eagles[10] in 2010 at the age of 9 years old. Coates never made an underage representative team as a junior, being over looked on multiple occasions. After a brief pursuit of an athletics career, he returned to the field and played part in the Currumbin Eagles' undefeated Premiership winning U16 team in 2017.[11] This was to be pivotal as on a cold May evening with the Currumbin Eagles playing the Helensvale Hornets a Brisbane Broncos' talent scout had come to view the game as several young Broncos contracted players were playing including Tom Dearden.[12]

The scout only had eyes for one player after the game, Xavier. After being signed to the Bronco's Xavier was invited to the Broncos' summer camp where he impressed coaches and trainers and was selected in the 2018 Qld emerging U18 Origin Squad[13] despite being 16 years old and never having played a representative game. Xavier was selected in the 2018 U18 Qld State of Origin[14] side who went down to NSW 16-10.[15] In 2019 Xavier was fast tracked[16] to senior rugby league with him dominating for his Community Football senior club the Currumbin Eagles.

In 2018, he was instrumental in the Currumbin Eagles' U17 Premiership where he was coached by ex Melbourne Storm player Matt Geyer.[17] He also excelled in the Qld Major Competition U18 Mal Meninga Cup with the Tweed Heads Seagulls[18] and Intrust Super Cup with the Redcliffe Dolphins.[19] Xavier did make brief appearances for the Tweed Heads Seagulls ISC team, however not being a contracted Titans player saw him transfer to Broncos' feeder club the Redcliffe Dolphins. Xavier was finally selected for his first ever junior representative team in the 2018 U18 South Coast team and the U18 Qld School Boys[20] and once again was selected in the Qld emerging U18 Origin Squad and played in the U18 QLD State of Origin against NSW,[21] where QLD won the game 34 - 12 and with Coates named Man of the Match.[22]

Senior career[]

Coates made his international debut for Papua New Guinea in their 24–6 defeat by Samoa in the 2019 Oceania Cup.[23] A month later, in round 16 of the 2019 NRL season he made his NRL debut for the Brisbane Broncos against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, scoring a try.[24]

He made twelve appearances for Brisbane in the 2020 NRL season, a year which saw Brisbane come last for the first time their history.[25] Coates achieved the highest top speed of a player in the 2020 NRL season by hitting a top speed of 36.9 km/h against the Newcastle Knights in round 6 of the 2020 season.[26]

Coates was selected to make his debut for Queensland on the wing in Game I of the 2020 State of Origin series, scoring a try in the 18-14 win. Coates then played game 2 scoring the first try in a 34-10 loss, however was ruled out of game 3 in the captain's run due to a groin injury.

In round 1 of the 2021 NRL season, he scored two tries for Brisbane in the first half of the match against Parramatta. In the act of scoring the second try, Coates landed awkwardly on his neck and was taken from the field. Brisbane would go on to lose the match 24-16.[27]

In round 3 of the 2021 NRL season, he scored two tries in a 24-0 victory over Canterbury-Bankstown.[28]

In round 23 of the 2021 NRL season, he scored two tries in a 24-22 victory over the New Zealand Warriors.[29]

References[]

  1. ^ Rugby League Project
  2. ^ "Junior footy to Test debut in 41 days: Baby Bronco Xavier Coates incredible rise with PNG". Fox Sports Australia. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  3. ^ "The Broncos Podcast: Xavier Coates". Broncos.com.au. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Xavier Coates, fastest NRL player: Broncos star turned down a possible shot at the Olympics". Courier Mail. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  5. ^ "NRL's fastest man dreamt of Olympic glory". Central Queensland News. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  6. ^ "The Inglis pep talk that put Coates on the Origin path". NRL.com. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Five blinders in 56 days - Coates' stunning rise to NRL". NRL.com. 13 July 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Wayne Bennett set to punt on Xavier Coates". The Australian. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Broncos poised to unleash their 'little GI'". Queensland Times. 7 July 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  10. ^ , Wikipedia, 2020-06-12, retrieved 2020-06-28
  11. ^ Lindsay, Brendan (2017). "2017 Grand Final Draw". Rugby League Gold Coast. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  12. ^ "Coates inspired to follow in Dearden's footsteps". Queensland Rugby League. 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  13. ^ "Under 15, Under 16, Under 18 Emerging Origin squads". Queensland Rugby League. 2017-12-21. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  14. ^ "Xavier Coates". National Rugby League. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  15. ^ "NSW U18s v QLD U18s". National Rugby League. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  16. ^ "Five blinders in 56 days - Coates' stunning rise to NRL". National Rugby League. 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  17. ^ , Wikipedia, 2020-03-28, retrieved 2020-06-28
  18. ^ What a weapon!' - Xavier Coates, retrieved 2020-06-28
  19. ^ "Xavier Coates". Queensland Rugby League. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  20. ^ "Schoolboys vie for England tour at national champs". Queensland Rugby League. 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  21. ^ "QLD U18s v NSW U18s". National Rugby League. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  22. ^ Player of the Match Xavier Coates, retrieved 2020-06-28
  23. ^ "Samoa vs Papua New Guinea". Wide World of Sports. 22 June 2019.
  24. ^ "Round 16 NRL team announcements". NRL.com. 3 July 2019.
  25. ^ "Brisbane get wooden spoon as North Queensland finish on a high". www.nrl.com.
  26. ^ "Coates dethrones Addo-Carr as NRL's fastest player". www.nrl.com.
  27. ^ "Brisbane Broncos' NRL losing streak continues as Parramatta Eels score comeback 24-16 win; Newcastle Knights beat Bulldogs". www.abc.net.au.
  28. ^ "Parramatta unbeaten in NRL after 28-4 win over Cronulla as Brisbane and Warriors enjoy victories". www.abc.net.au.
  29. ^ "Devastated Walsh not to blame for 'conservative' Warriors loss: Brown". www.nrl.com.

External links[]

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