Confirming a raid on NRL talent, Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan has made the startling revelation “lots of league players” are hunting a code swap to the 15-man game.
In what should sound alarm bells in league land, McLennan also plans to continue pursuing NRL stars ahead of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour down under and the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Having already lured Sydney Roosters teenage sensation Joseph Aukuso-Suaalii back to rugby on a multi-million-dollar deal from 2025, RA and Wallabies coach Eddie Jones are also circling fellow former schoolboy stars Cameron Murray and Payne Haas, and even dual premiership-winning playmaker Nathan Cleary.
ARLC chairman Peter V’Landys has enjoyed mocking the rival code in recent weeks and McLennan was only too happy to stir the pot himself after announcing RA’s $8.2 million surplus for 2022.
Broke and almost destitute during the pandemic, McLennan says RA is now cashed up and ready to swoop on more NRL big guns.
“I wouldn’t overstate what happens with the money but there are a lot of league players that have reached out to us,” McLennan said.
“We’re the first to say league is a great game but they want something different with rugby union.
“We’ll see in due course whether it’s right for them and for us. There’s not going to be 20 players we poach or try and bring back. The ones we’ve talked about have played union during their high school years and we think there is a role for them here in our game.
“Our primary goal is to look after the guys we have at the moment. There’s really only a handful of people we’ll look to get back.”
Declaring RA on an “even keel” now with the NRL, McLennan is making no apologies for his organisation’s bullish approach to the code war.
“Some rugby die-hards hate it,” he said.
“We just see that we have lost a lot of very good union players to league over the years and they’ve been poaching our talent pool.
“They squeal when we take one or two of them back. We’ve been very strategic. It’s a free market. It’s good for the players.
“As Eddie said, there’s only five per cent of players that have the skills to do both.
“Suaalii has a great amount of natural talent. He’d be perfect for us. We’re taking a long-term view with the Lions and Rugby World Cup.
“He loves sevens. Everyone is going a bit bananas about it but there will only be a handful of players we’d like to pull back. We’ll get a few of them back who we think can make a difference.”
McLennan also hopes Suaalii, a product of the King’s School in Sydney, isn’t punished for returning to rugby.
“I hope league aren’t punitive and he can play in Origin,” he said.
“He will be a Wallaby. He will play in a Lions series. He will play at a Rugby World Cup and he can go to the Olympics in 2028. That’s remarkable for a young man.”
