Wellington junior Kotoni Staggs was forced to have shoulder surgery after the 2022 NRL season

After injuring his shoulder during his NSW debut last year, Staggs soldiered on for the remainder of the Broncos' campaign which saw them narrowly miss out on playing finals football.

But just weeks away from the first trial matches and round one, the star centre told media he would be right to go for the opening fixture of the season when Brisbane takes on two-time defending premiers Penrith.

"The body is feeling really good at that moment, I've come back and had the physio looking after me and they've done a great job," he said.

"The surgery takes my mind off something I was worrying about last year, I can focus on myself now and not the niggles in my shoulder.

"I can focus on the way I am playing and also prepping my body and getting all the recovery I should be getting.

"I'm on track to play in the trial matches this year and I should be right for Round 1. It's gotten a lot better over time."

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Staggs has had an injury-plagued career thus far after debuting for the Broncos in 2018 but when he has stayed healthy, the Wellington product has been one of the best strike centres in the competition.

With a Dally M Centre of the Year award and NSW State of Origin cap, Staggs confessed he didn't want to let his teammates down in the backend of 2022.

"I tore my labrum in Origin 1, I didn't know much about it, I didn't get scans until after the season and the scans showed that it was torn," he said.

"I had to go in and get surgery and get it fixed up, it was good to get it done in the off-season so I could be right for this year.

"It was sore after I did it, I just didn't want to let my teammates down. I knew we were having a good season and winning some games, we were a good chance for finals so I didn't want to get surgery midway through the season and miss the end of the year and let the boys down."

The 2023 season will begin in this first week of March and Staggs is hoping he can get back into full contact training as soon as possible.

"I should be out of the red bib in a week or two, just depending on how I go in our wrestle sessions this week," he said.

"I'm gradually getting better each week, hopefully, it comes off soon, and the shoulder is feeling good. I've had a lot of people supporting me right throughout the process, the best physios and the best people looking after me.

"It's been a long couple of weeks and months, it all comes down to getting myself right physically and mentally for the season."

Brisbane has had some off-field dramas over the summer period with young gun Selwyn Cobbo's comments about coach Kevin Walters causing some controversy.

But regardless of what has been said off the field, Staggs is confident the squad is possibly closer than ever before.

"This preseason we have gotten a lot stronger together," he said.

"Last year was an improvement on the previous years, we had seven wins in a row at one stage, which was pretty good from where we have come from.

"We just want to improve on that, we don't want to change much.

"We just want to play for each other, go out there and give what the fans want, they are the reason we go out and do what we do, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be where we are, so we want to give back to all the members and fans out there and we want to have a good season for them and also the organisation here."

Brisbane will open their season against Penrith at BlueBet Stadium on March 3.

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