WHEN Corey Oates makes his State of Origin debut in Sydney tonight, he will have the small towns of Biloela and Baralaba cheering him on.
The Oates family live about 40km out of Biloela on Clonmel, and Corey’s big sister, Jenna, said her little brother was stoked to be living his Origin dream.
“We grew up on a property at Baralaba...the boys played footy every weekend,” Jenna, 24, said.
“I was 13 when we left there, so Corey would have been about ten. We came across to Bilo - we always had this place but it was just an offsite thing to the farm.”
Jenna said Corey, 21, who plays wing for the Brisbane Broncos, always dreamed of playing in the State of Origin.
“It’s amazing, I always say it’s his dream. And he’s finally living it,” she said.
“I just hope he enjoys every little bit of it.
“He’s always wanted to do it - we’ve got a photo of when he was four and you always say to him what do you want to do when you get older and he’d say ‘I want to play footy for the Brisbane Broncos’, and you’d ask him, ‘well, what if you can’t’, and it was like ‘don’t swear at me’.”
Corey’s football career began as a junior in Baralaba and then Biloela, before moving on to play for Rockhampton teams, then the Capras and finally the Brisbane Broncos.
“Footy is a big rivalry in our family - I go for the Storm… still,” Jenna laughed.
“Everyone else has converted to the Broncs, but my heart is set with the Storm.
“Except when they play the Broncos… then I just won’t say a word.”
Jenna said she and her family – including older brother Matthew and parents Warren and Janette, could not be prouder of the baby of the family.
“There was always the doubt that he wouldn’t keep going, but he stuck it out, put his head down and kept going,” she said.
“That was his dream, to play for Queensland. Now I guess the next one is Australia.”
As a child Corey idolised former Bronco and Origin great, Darren Lockyer.
“The first time he met him I think they went for a 10km run and Corey was like ‘oh my god he’s fit’,” Jenna said.
As for the best case scenario when Corey takes the field tonight?
“Best case scenario would be that he gets a try… and they win, and he just plays a good game,” Jenna said.
Jenna and Matthew flew to Sydney this morning for the big game. Corey’s parents were among hundreds to sail to Sydney on the first State of Origin cruise and will also be in the stands tonight.