Broncos coach Kevin Walters has confirmed the "very disappointing" defection of Queensland State of Origin winger Xavier Coates from Brisbane to Melbourne.
Coates reportedly told teammates of his departure at season's end after Brisbane lost to North Queensland on Saturday night.
"It's very disappointing. Everyone is really aware of his talents as a young guy that's been in our system for three or four years now," Walters said on The Sunday Footy Show.
"To lose him, it's not great, I've got to say for the Broncos. But we wish Xavier ... we respect his decision to move on.
"How will it affect us in the future? Well look, we've got a couple of other good young kids coming through and obviously we'll go to market as well now.
"Wingers are an important part of today's game and Xavier was an important part of our future here at the Broncos. He was one of the guys that we really were very keen to hang on to and be a long-term player here.
"That's not the case, so we'll move on. We lost Allan Langer many years ago, we lost Darren Lockyer many years ago. We've lost another good one but that doesn't mean there's [not] another better one or a player of equal ability around the corner."
The Broncos retained boom centre Kotoni Staggs last week but have David Fifita, Tom Dearden and Reece Walsh in their column of recent losses.
Walters insisted that there was a plan in place for Brisbane's future and that he was on the same page as new Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy.
"The Broncos are a big brand, we're a great brand. We're a brand that's very popular and still very accommodating for players to come and play here," he said.
"It's a great club to be at, great facilities, and we will bring the right people here to move this club forward. We're not going to stay where we are for too long, I can assure you of that. The Broncos are too big a club to allow that to happen.
"Me personally, I've got some great people around me and we've got a really clear plan on what our future looks like. It's about getting the right people in the right place, to make sure that future evolves.
"I'm very clear and very confident that we can get that done."
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from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/xavier-coates-leaving-brisbane-broncos-for-melbourne-storm-kevin-walters/9d36371e-7ac2-4502-bcc2-6461fdf1ef3b
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