Xavier Coates has developed into one of the most feared aerial threats the NRL has ever seen—and the towering 24-year-old says it’s no coincidence given his club is based in AFL heartland.
Heading into Friday night’s home preliminary final against Cronulla, the popular Melbourne winger was asked about his spectacular prowess under the high ball.
“We have lot of AFL teams down here and we get to watch quite a bit of Collingwood across the road (whose Olympic Park training centre is next door to AAMI Park),” Coates explained at the Storm’s open fan day.
“Sometimes their trainers come across and help us out with our catching and I feel like that helps my game.”
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“I’m a footy head now, I love my AFL, I watch a lot of that and try to take little bits of their game and put it into my game—and I feel like that’s really coming off,” he continued with a grin.
Coates has scored 19 tries in 20 appearances for the Storm in 2025, with plenty of his four-pointers coming from attacking bombs.
However, no effort was more spectacular than his AFL-esque leap over Daniel Atkinson back in Round 11 when the Storm actually lost to Cronulla—the same opponent that awaits on Friday night.
Xavier Coates is INSANE! 👏#NRLSharksStorm pic.twitter.com/ORnuOsRlOO
— NRL (@NRL) May 17, 2025
“I wasn’t surprised at all (that the Sharks beat the Raiders),” Coates said.
“Whenever we play the Sharks it’s a close game, they have quality players across the whole park and when (Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes) have the ball in their hands they create opportunities for everyone around them.
“On their night Cronulla is a great team and we’re looking forward to another tough matchup.”
While Collingwood may well have helped him hone his aerial skills, Coates will no doubt be hoping to avoid the same fate as the Pies, who bowed out of contention in the 2025 AFL preliminary finals last weekend.