Brisbane Broncos rising star Phillip Coates will be lapping up any more NRL chances that come his way in 2026 as he pushes his case for a Kumuls World Cup berth.
The 19-year-old winger had a baptism of fire on NRL debut in front of a parochial pro-Warriors crowd at Magic Round, producing mixed results as he was blown away at the speed of the top grade.
But just as his older brother Xavier seems to do every game, Phil walked away with a highlight reel moment after latching on to a bullet Reece Walsh pass above his head, finding space and the saying his prayers as he lobbed an offload bouncing favourably into the arms of Adam Reynolds for the Broncos skipper's second try.
"It was very surreal. I missed out on the couple in the first half, so I needed to be better and I caught that one and that was a pretty special to set up Reyno there," he said.
Adam Reynolds 2nd Try
"Lucky he was on the inside and scored the try, so it made me look good.
"It was an unlucky result but very grateful to get my debut, especially in Magic Round. It was a great atmosphere, a lot of people, but it was good.
"It's very fast out there so compared to Q-Cup so first half it was a bit fast but got into it in the second half and felt a bit better."
It was the 25-year-old Storm winger Coates who flew up to Brisbane to present his younger brother's debut jersey and the first-gamer said his advice had been invaluable.
"It was pretty special for him to present my jersey and he gave me a lot of good advice and I'm pretty grateful for having him in my corner," Phillip Coates said.
"He just said just keep it simple just keep doing what I'm doing You don't need to change anything because it's a big game so just act like it's a normal game.
"it's definitely inspirational. He's someone I can go to for advice and he's been through a lot for how old he is - he's only young but he's been through a lot - so he's always great with advice and I'm always asking him and he's giving me great advice, so I'll grateful for him."
One way Phil wants to emulate his brother is in representing the Papua New Guinea national side, having got a taste for the meaning of the jersey playing centre for the Junior Kumuls in 2024.
"Yeah, it's been on my mind, so yeah I would love to represent Kumuls in the World Cup but yeah, I just got to keep performing and doing well," Coates said.
"I'm just getting my confidence up and hopefully I can get a couple more (NRL) games in, but just really working on little things in Q-Cup and it'd be good."
Coates may need to bide his time to add to his NRL tally, with the Broncos expected to welcome Kotoni Staggs after State of Origin Game 1 and looming availability of Grant Anderson in coming weeks.
But if the former Queensland Under 19s representative continues his development and his impressive record of seven tries in six games for Burleigh Bears, the next opportunity might not be too far away.
