in high demand Canberra forward Corey Horsburgh has visited with Kevin Walters, the coach of the Brisbane Broncos, and will see the Wests Tigers in the upcoming weeks.
The 26-year-old, who debuted for the Queenslanders last year, has a contract with the Raiders through the end of 2027, but he is free to speak with other teams in order to find a deal for 2025 and beyond.
After a season beset by suspension and injuries, the feisty Horsburgh—who has only appeared in two NRL games this year—has been playing exceptionally well for Canberra’s reserve-grade team in recent weeks.
Horsburgh, who was born in the Brisbane suburb of Caboolture and played junior rugby at Redcliffe, is good friends with Broncos lock Pat Carrigan. Following a tour of the club’s facilities, Horsburgh had a productive discussion with club executives.
Horsburgh’s manager Jeff Jurotte told AAP on Thursday, “We met with the Broncos yesterday and had a really good conversation with (coach) Kevin Walters and (recruitment chief) Simon Scanlan.”
Nothing was resolved upon, and they clarified that they needed to resolve certain salary cap difficulties.
“Corey and Pat Carrigan are good friends and would like to play together again. They played together in the Queensland under-20s.” I also take care of Pat.
Corey has seen and used Brisbane’s facilities before because the Origin players have trained there. Part of the attraction of the Broncos is coming home to Brisbane.”
The Broncos are in the midst of finalising a multi-million dollar extension for Reece Walsh and have strike backs Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo off-contract at the end of next year, so the salary cap is tight.
Jurotte said Tigers coach Benji Marshall had also reached out.
“We will probably give them the courtesy of meeting up with them next week or the week after,” he said.
“Benji and (CEO) Shane Richardson have said they are keen on him but we just haven’t had a chance to get to Sydney, but we will.”
Horsburgh has also attracted interest from Canterbury and St George Illawarra.
Jurotte said the Bulldogs were “out of the running” after signing Leigh Leopards forward Tom Amone, Sydney Roosters second-rower Sitili Tupouniua and looking to upgrade several members of their current squad.
“Phil Gould was really good about it,” Jurotte said.
“He said they wanted to look after the kids that were there and that’s fine.”
Jurotte has spoken with Dragons coach Shane Flanagan, who also has other irons in the fire.
“He asked me if I can give him a call back in the next two weeks,” Jurotte said
Jurotte has spoken to Raiders CEO Don Furner and coach Ricky Stuart and said the option was still open to stay in Canberra.
“They obviously want to keep him at the club and that is still a possibility,” he said
“Corey has played three or four games in reserve grade and has been the best player the past few weeks.
“He has lost six kilos, is training the house down and is in a really good spot at the moment and is injury free. It is like he has done his pre-season again and that’s where we wanted to get him.”
Joey blasts Annesley over blockers
Immortal halfback Andrew Johns has delivered a blunt message to NRL head of football Graham Annesley over the rejig to the field goal rules which make it hard for teams to kick one without incurring a penalty.
Johns’ Knights and Cronulla were denied match-winning field goals on Sunday because referee Gerard Sutton ruled there were “blockers” in the road of defenders trying to charged down the kicks.
The change to the interpretations has drawn a stern rebuke from Johns, who was a master at booting field goals during his illustrious career.
Writing in his column for the Sydney Morning Herald, he explained how a field goal kicker usually waits for the right time during an attacking set to pull the trigger with forwards in front of them.
“On play one, my position would be 15 to 20 metres behind the ruck and the entire time I would have the middle forwards in front of me. I’m directing them where to run, what defenders to target and the ideal position for the field goal attempt,” he explained.
