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Opinion
Eddie Jones is an astute fellow who loves to play the media game and he’s been bringing much-needed attention to rugby since his swift return to the role of Wallabies coach just 26 days ago.
Part of his sales pitch in his second coming in the green and gold fold is to do just that with potential rugby recruits, including those who currently play the league variety.
South Sydney skipper Cameron Murray is the latest player he’d like to convert to the 15-player code, saying earlier this week that he would be “pretty handy” and “a fantastic 12 in rugby”.
Murray told Channel Nine that he would be interested in sussing out what was on offer with rugby.
“As far as I’m concerned my loyalty is with my next three years at the club. I’m contracted here and that’s where my focus and energy is,” Murray said. “I contemplate it [rugby] long term, I’d consider it but that’s as much energy as I give it. It’s all hypotheticals right now.”
Whether Murray seriously considers a return to the sport he played to representative level as a schoolboy remains to be seen but Jones and the Rugby Australia bean-counters are in danger of becoming a cash cow for those nefarious souls who go by the title of NRL player agents.
These sharks can smell blood in the water from a greater distance than the marine variety.
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And they went into a feeding frenzy on the Dolphins last year, using and abusing the NRL’s new franchise to drive up the asking price of their players.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones speaks to fans. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Tellingly for the Dolphins, pretty much every time a free agent was mysteriously linked to the club through anonymous sources in the media (which usually means an agent has slipped the info to a preferred journo to get the word out there), that player ended up staying at their current club or signing elsewhere in the case of Storm star Brandon Smith opting for the Roosters instead of Redcliffe.
Cameron Munster, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Kalyn Ponga, Reed Mahoney, Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes, Reece Walsh, Patrick Carrigan, Herbie Farnworth, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Ben Hunt, it was quite a list of stars who turned their back on the new club.
Jones has had a few catch-ups with Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett over the years, particularly when they were both in charge of England in their respective codes until recently, sometimes picking each other’s brains at training sessions.
He should see if Bennett has come up with a solution to the problem of being used as a bargaining chip.
Bennett was unusually reluctant to quash speculation last year, probably because his new team couldn’t afford to rule out any high-profile options as they were struggling to get big names onto their inaugural roster.
Jones famously lured Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri to successful stints with the Wallabies during his first stint as coach two decades ago.
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett talks to his players during training. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
He still wonders what might have been if they managed to sway future NRL Immortal halfback Andrew Johns to rugby – he was supposed to announce one way or the other after protracted negotiations on The Footy Show in 2004 but froze in the camera’s glare, leaving viewers in the dark because he couldn’t make up his mind.
There were countless other players of that era who were frequently linked to potential switches but nothing ever came of it – pretty much any NRL player who filled in for the local XV at schoolboy or junior level was all of a sudden considering giving rugby a try.
It was little more than the old “paper talk” ploy of driving up market value.
And that’s what Jones needs to his best to stamp out as much as possible this time around.
Convincing a player like Murray to switch would be a massive coup for Rugby Australia, cashed up with a British & Irish Lions tour and two World Cup tournaments to fill the coffers for the rest of the decade.
The 25-year-old is contracted to the Rabbitohs until the end of 2025 and as the club captain and a local junior who has gone on to represent NSW and Australia, they will pull out all stops to keep him at Redfern.
Souths have another couple of big names coming off the books at the same time in Cody Walker and Damien Cook who will be in their mid 30s by then and probably retiring, meaning the Bunnies will have plenty of cash to splash on snaring Murray’s signature.
Murray was appointed a vice-captain alongside Panthers forward Isaah Yeo under Kangaroos captain James Tedesco at the World Cup in the UK at the end of last season.
Cameron Murray. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images for RLWC)
Three years younger than Yeo, he’s probably the frontrunner to replace Tedesco as NSW and Australian captain when the 30-year-old fullback exits the representative ranks in a few years time.
Eels centre Will Penisini is another player who was initially mentioned as one of the former high school rugby stars who Jones wanted to bring back by using the World Cup carrot.
Clearly it’s not on the 20-year-old speedster’s radar just yet because he inked a two-year contract extension with the Eels just days after being named a potential Wallabies target.
The big fish for the Wallabies remains Penisini’s high school buddy, Joseph Suaali’i, the 19-year-old Rooster with the world at his quick-stepping feet.
There’s a whiff of Sonny Bill Williams about Suaali’i already not just in terms of his considerable athletic talent which should translate to both rugby codes.
After signing with the Rabbitohs as a schoolboy, he’s become a disciple of the Roosters’ famed culture since joining the bitter rivals at the end of 2020.
His contract was a four-year deal but contained clauses which meant he had the option to walk this season or next.
Joseph Suaali’i. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
He opted in for 2023 but still has to decide whether he wants to stick around next year.
SBW, after returning to the All Blacks in 2015 following his first two-year stint at the Roosters, said he would never play for another club if he ever returned to the NRL and he stayed true to that promise, chiming in for a five-game swansong in 2020 at the end of the pandemic-shortened season.
Suaali’i already seems to have a similar affinity for the Tricolours – he is moving in from the wing to centre this season but is still no closer to his preferred fullback jersey which Tedesco occupies.
Rather than playing against the Roosters, he could be more inclined to try a different sport altogether … and that’s where Jones should step in, armed with his charismatic salesmanship, savvy negotiating skills and for the first time in a long time for Rugby Australia, the money to land the hottest property in either market.