 in the team with (Lodge) out so I guess I get another chance.
Although his defensive record has come under question this season, Oates was not concerned. He has not managed an NRL try since July 2019, but Oates is determined to revive his form and overturn the public’s image of the club.
“I feel like my defence has been pretty good and it’s actually been better than other years,” Oates said.
“I don’t feel like I have stuffed up in a major way in games, but once a coach makes his decision, they don’t go back on them.
“People saying we don‘t care don’t understand how hard we try.
Broncos second rower Alex Glenn was spotted pulling down Oates’ shorts in a lighthearted prank at training on Friday.
Brisbane lock Pat Carrigan sang Oates’ praises after the announcement, and was adamant the Queenslander would perform in whatever position he plays on Saturday.
“One thing with Oatsey is that he’s a team player and it’s been an up and down week for him but his training has been well,” Carrigan told Broncos.com.au.
“He could have dropped he bottom lip but he’s worked hard and has got another chance.
“I’m excited for him … he’s been a big part of the club and he’s one of those older guys who has shown us younger guys the ropes.
“A win is what he deserves. Whatever position he plays then he’ll get the job done.
“We’re standing side by side and we know that the only way to turn the critics away is to start winning and it needs to start this week for us.
Kirk stepped away from the professional game in April last year to deal with alcohol and depression problems and spent seven months undergoing treatment before returning in November, and he claimed an emotional victory on the Korn Ferry Tour last month.
The 35-year-old has not won on the PGA Tour for over five years, but he will go into the weekend at Detroit Golf Club full of confidence after a second-round 65 lifted him to 12 under, a score later matched when RBC Heritage champion Simpson cruised round the Donald Ross design in 64.
Ireland’s Seamus Power is one stroke behind alongside powerhouses Bryson DeChambeau and Matthew Wolff, while English pair Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Wallace are in good shape on nine under with fellow Ryder Cup hopeful Viktor Hovland one further adrift after 36 holes.
Kirk, once ranked as high as 16th in the world during 2015, had the “59 watch” brigade monitoring him closely when he stormed to the turn in 30 before holing out from sand at the 11th and chipping in at the next for his eighth birdie of the round.
But that would prove his final gain of a day which ended on a sour note when he carded his only bogey at the last, a mistake that would ultimately cost him the outright lead, although Kirk insists he is just happy to be competing on the PGA Tour again given what he’s been through off the course.
“I think that a few years ago, among other things, golf was definitely wearing on me and I definitely lost the joy of playing and competing,” said Kirk, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour but none since the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in May, 2015.
Simpson’s affection for Donald Ross layouts was again evident in his bogey-free 64 containing eight birdies, the last of which at the 16th was a high-class hole-out from a greenside bunker, and the world No 6 admitted afterwards that he had only decided to enter this event a couple of weeks ago.
“I decided I want to go play, I’d heard great things about the golf course,” said Simpson, the highest-ranked player in the field this week. “It’s a Donald Ross design, and guys that played here last year that I talked to about it loved the golf tournament, they loved what Rocket Mortgage did.
Power, who has slipped out of the world’s top 500 having not had a top-10 finish on any Tour since last April’s RBC Heritage, held a share of the clubhouse lead for the majority of the afternoon after following up his opening 67 with a 66, and he has yet to drop a shot over the first half of the tournament.
The Irish Olympian shares third with the big-hitting DeChambeau (67) and Wolff, who reeled off six consecutive birdies in his entertaining 64, although a pulled drive at the eighth – his 17th – cost him his only dropped shot of the round.
Kai Havertz could leave Bayer Leverkusen for Chelsea this summer as part of ‘an agreement’ with the Bundesliga club, sporting director Rudi Voller has admitted.
The 21-year-old, who has provided 15 goals and eight assists this season, looks set to leave the club where he has spent the first four years of his senior career should certain conditions be met.
‘We have an agreement – if it fits, he can go this summer,’ Voller told Bild.
Bayer missed out on fourth spot by two points and Voller has conceded that Champions League qualification would make it easier for them to persuade Havertz to stay longer.
Champions Bayern Munich have claimed they cannot afford the attacking midfielder, who was rumoured to have been left out of Bayer’s defeat to them last month because of Chelsea’s interest.
Voller was unimpressed by the suggestion and said there is ‘no discussion’ for any player to voluntarily miss matches.
Fellow Germany international Timo Werner agreed to join Chelsea from RB Leipzig for £53million last month.
Brendan Rodgers insists Leicester’s current nosedive will prove a blessing in disguise – even if it costs them a place in the Champions League.
Leicester looked nailed on for a top-four spot before the coronavirus shutdown.
But since football returned, Rodgers’ side have failed to register a single win, meaning their cushion to sixth is now only three points.
With games against Arsenal, Sheffield United, Tottenham and Manchester United to come, Rodgers expects the race for Champions League football to go down to the wire.
Saturday’s clash with Palace is Leicester’s first home game since the city went back into a local lockdown following a spike of coronavirus cases.
Rodgers says they have reinforced the ‘common sense’ approach his squad need to show but the manager insists there are no concerns among his players or staff about playing while the city battles the pandemic.
‘No none at all, we’re in a bubble here… we get regularly tested so nothing really has changed on that front,’ he said.
Leicester could be without James Maddison for Saturday’s game after the midfielder aggravated a hip injury during their midweek defeat at Everton.
Jurgen Klopp vows EVERY member of Liverpool’s title-winning squad – including the Kop kids – will receive a medal… even if it means giving his own away!
Jurgen Klopp has vowed that each member of Liverpool’s squad will receive a Premier League winner’s medal – even if it means giving his own away.
The manager is perplexed by the system that means a player is only guaranteed a medal once he has made five appearances.
‘I don’t know who came up with that,’ said Klopp, whose side face Aston Villa on Sunday. ‘Even if you have played one game you should have a medal.
‘If the people don’t understand how important a squad is to win a championship then I cannot help them to be honest.
Each title-winning squad is given 40 medals, with the majority going to players who meet the criteria, plus the management team and coaching staff, with the remainder distributed however the club sees fit.
Youngsters Neco Williams, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott have all made two appearances and Klopp is determined to see that they – along with others such as reserve goalkeepers Andy Lonergan and Caoimhin Kelleher – are rewarded.
‘These boys will get a medal – 100 per cent,’ he said. ‘I could produce it by myself. They can have my medal, but it’s not really the rule.
It raised the question of whether Klopp would be willing to give Williams, Jones and Elliott cameos during Liverpool’s final six matches but he was incredulous at the idea that he would start rotating, just because the title has been sewn up.
‘We have to win football games,’ said Klopp. ‘Those kids are super and they have a future but we don’t give games as a Christmas present, like sweets.
‘It is about who fits best in the formation. No Premier League games are just for fun.
The Frankie Factor should ensure English King hangs on to favouritism for the Investec Derby despite his position coming under threat from Mogul.
Coral have eased Frankie Dettori’s mount to 7-2 with his draw in stall one seen as a disadvantage.
Mogul is now as short as 4-1 after it was confirmed Ryan Moore would ride, despite Mogul being beaten at Royal Ascot and emerging from stall two, which has never housed a Derby winner since starting stalls were introduced in 1967.
Bookmakers are braced for a Dettori barrage. The 49-year-old jockey rides second favourite Frankly Darling in the Oaks and his dual Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe winner