Oates makes good strides in recovery
BRONCOS winger Corey Oates is on track to make a swift recovery for the do-ordie clash with the Melbourne Storm on Friday.
The towering back went for scans yesterday to ensure he is recovering well from the sickening head knock that left him concussed and bloody in the Broncos’ finals victory over the Panthers last Friday.
But should the results show no problems when returned to Brisbane today, it will put Oates one step closer to a thrilling showdown with Melbourne’s try-scoring freak Suliasi Vunivalu. Oates only trained lightly at the Broncos’ session at Red Hill yesterday, doing cardio work with teammate Jai Arrow, who also suffered concussion last week.
But the club’s high performance manager Jeremy Hickmans said the run was the first essential step in the 22-year-old’s recovery.
Hickmans said while Oates was a bit “dusty” on Saturday morning, he had not suffered dizziness, illness or memory issues and is going through the necessary protocols to play on Friday.
After yesterday’s successful cardio session, the Broncos will now ramp up Oates’ workload at training.
“He’s looking pretty good,” Hickmans said.
“He’s got to go through certain steps. He did some cardio (yesterday) and will do some skills (today).
“It’s just about increasing his workload and staying away from heavy weights and contact in the first few days.
“At the moment he has no symptoms and passed the first few tests. He got a few ticks (yesterday).”
Hickmans said some of Brisbane’s protocols were “above and beyond” what was required from the NRL, including the scans that Oates underwent yesterday.
The Broncos will desperately need their star back to line up against Vunivalu, given their history with the Fijian flyer.
When Oates was injured in a clash with Melbourne last year, the 192cm winger Vunivalu went on to score a hattrick against replacement Kodi Nikorima.
This year while Oates was battling a staph infection, Vunivalu scored a double against David Mead.
Broncos great Steve Renouf said Brisbane would need Oates’ size on Friday if they were any chance of beating the Storm.
“They need him there because he’s like an extra forward,” he said.
Oates will be given to Thursday to complete his all his tests and prove his fitness.