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Held back in the opening rounds with injury, Kotoni Staggs made his presence felt on his return to action, helping the Broncos post another Battle for Brisbane derby win against the Dolphins.

The match holds special significance for Staggs beyond being a local derby, having featured in an iconic moment after sprinting the length of the field to score the game-sealing try in the inaugural meeting and declaring 'this is our home' in an emotion charged celebration.

After scoring an impressive try from dummyhalf in the first half to further sink the Dolphins in their fifth encounter, he repeated the dose.

Kotoni Staggs celebrates scoring a try at Suncorp Stadium against the Dolphins.
Kotoni Staggs celebrates scoring a try at Suncorp Stadium against the Dolphins. ©Scott Davis / NRL Images

“Missing the first three games wasn't ideal, but missing those three games made me hungrier to get back and get into it and what a game to come back at; Redcliffe – away for us – but obviously this is still our home," Staggs said. 

“Our focus this week was more on ourselves and worrying about what we need to do; I think the boys, we backed ourselves up with our defence, I think our defence is our number one key there and we defended well … (it was an) arm wrestle … and I could feel it coming back in my first game.

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Kotoni Staggs Try

“It was good to be back and against Redcliffe, it's another derby and good to get the win.”

Now one of the stars of the game, Staggs first made a name for himself as a player with the Redcliffe Dolphins Hostplus Cup team, where he won the competition in 2018.

“Redcliffe gave me my first opportunity when I moved there and I'm always thankful for that and won a Q Cup comp with them in 2018 and I've still got some good mates there that I've made who are friends with for life,” Staggs said.

“(But) I don't look at it like that, I just think I'm at the Broncos now and this is where I play my footy and I love playing my footy here.

"They're just another team in the comp for myself and I always have just got to go out and play my best footy.”

In a game punctuated by the performances of the centres – with Gehamat Shibasaki having a pearler of a game on his way to claiming player of the match honours – the battle between former teammates Staggs and Herbie Farnworth provided plenty of highlights.

“Having Herbie up against me ... I knew that I had to turn up,” Staggs said.

“He's a strong ball runner and I knew he was going to be on tonight and the last game we played last year in Round 26, he was their main player and he won the game for them and I knew I needed to be on tonight and to stop him whatever way I had to stop him.

"I just knew that I needed to do it for the team and I thought I did my job.”

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Farnworth v Staggs

This week, the Broncos host a resurgent Wests Tigers outfit for their Multicultural Round match, with Staggs hoping his side could continue to build on their strong start to the season so far with the hope of again returning to the finals.

“We've got to take week-by-week and this game (against the Dolphins), we'll watch that and put that to bed and focus on the Tigers,” Staggs said.

“The group we've got now, 100% I think we could win the grand final, but there's 20-something rounds and we just got to play well in them and just take it week-by-week, so looking forward to it.”