At the forefront will be five-eighth Ezra Mam and backrow trio Jordan Riki, Kurt Capewell and Brendan Piakura – who all come off contract at the end of 2024 and will be free to negotiate with rivals from November 1.
Fullback Reece Walsh is also set to receive an upgrade on his current deal, leaving the club and coach Kevin Walters with a conundrum.
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Outside backs Deine Mariner and Jesse Arthars have been signed until the end of 2026 and 2027 respectively – with veterans Jordan Pereira (2023), Delouise Hoeter (2024) and rookie prospect Israel Leota all options out wide as well – which could leave Oates as the odd man out.
Walters has stressed in the past he hoped to retain the services of the winger, who has become the fifth-leading try scorer in Broncos history.
“There’s enough [money] there, it’s a big pie these days … we’ve got to be smart about that though,” Walters said.
“There is only so much in the salary cap, and we’ve got to be really smart in who we spend that money on.
Broncos coach Kevin Walters with captain Adam Reynolds, who will miss this week’s clash with Canberra due to a mild calf strain.Credit: Getty
“Obviously Payne is a priority for us and we’ve got that done, there’s still Walshy and Ezra and so many others coming through who also need to be identified and make sure they stay and are playing here.
“It’s always been the mantra to hang on to the players that you really want to keep and that’s always been the case here.
“We lost Fleg and Herbie [Farnworth] this year, which we ideally would have loved to have kept those players. You can’t keep them all, we’d like to probably keep more, but you just can’t sometimes.”
