Angus Crichton looks set to leave the Roosters a year early to deliver a much-needed boost in talent to the Wallabies after Rugby Australia offered the veteran forward a lucrative two-year deal.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the former schoolboys rugby star has been offered a $1.6 million deal for the next two years.
He would join the Western Force, not the Waratahs, in Super Rugby and be in contention to become a dual international with the Wallabies in the lead-up to the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour.
It had been expected that Crichton would stay in Sydney if he switched codes but the SMH reported that the Westerners have joined forces with RA to come up with the cash for the deal.
The 27-year-old second-rower has played 154 NRL matches at Souths and the Roosters since making his debut in 2016, as well as 11 Origins with NSW and five Tests for the Kangaroos, including last year’s World Cup final in the UK.
Angus Crichton. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Crichton has a year remaining on his current deal and is free to speak to other NRL clubs as of November 1, though if he did choose to join rugby union, it is likely the Roosters would not stand in his way and he would join immediately.
He took significant time out of the game for mental health reasons earlier this year and his club is happy to let him lead the way on his decision making, though they would baulk at him joining another NRL club, especially a year early.
Crichton won an NRL premiership in 2019 when he was a part of the Roosters side which beat Canberra in controversial circumstances.
The Wallabies are desperate to rebuild their team and their reputation after crashing out of the Rugby World Cup for the first time prior to the quarter-finals in France after defeats to Fiji and Wales.
Crichton was a standout performer at Scots College as a teenager before he was signed by Souths.
Signing him to a big-money deal is a gamble by Rugby Australia and will lead to criticism about chasing NRL talent instead of investing in the code’s own players.
For the Roosters, they are under salary cap pressure heading into next season as they try to re-sign young forwards Siua Wong and Terrell May while, at this stage, Joseph Suaalii, will remain at the Roosters next season before he takes up his multimillion-dollar contract with Rugby Australia which runs until the World Cup on home soil in 2027.
criag
Roar Rookie
Yeah...we were soooooo pampered! We didn't have oranges at halftime - it was tea, crumpets and caviar! #StillPatientlyListeningToMyths,Lies&FantasiesFromDeludedSouthsFans
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
"I’ll explain what colours Souths are soon." If your answer includes 2 of the 5 true primary colours (in terms of physics and light *), you'd be wrong, criag. Now that should put your private school education to the test. #StillRunningRingsAroundRoostersSupporters
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Sydney High’s footy went downhill once I left! Yeah, I bet the pampered prima donnas missed the peeled oranges at half time and someone to run the water and the 'magic sponge' during the game. :laughing: #StillRunningRingsAroundRoostersSupporters
criag
Roar Rookie
I'll explain what colours Souths are soon.
criag
Roar Rookie
‘Smart enough to stay several steps ahead of Roosters supporters’, eh? Well, you’ve certainly left us for dead for pure imagination! Yeah…Sydney High’s footy went downhill once I left! …Maybe Rusty Crowe was in one of those teams that got bashed and he got a few head-highs from you, which would explain a lot.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
You don't think I'm smart, Pickett? I've been smart enough to stay several steps ahead of Roosters supporters all these years with the benefit of their private school educations. Obviously, Cleveland Street Boys High couldn't have been too selective if I made the cut from 1978 - 1983. If it was ever a selective school, it would have been well before my time. Before they felt the need to shorten Cleveland Street Boys High to just 4 letters and 2 syllables, CLEVO to make it easier for the yokels to remember. It was a 'boys only' school though from 1956 - 1982 so in that sense it was selective. While I was there, until the relocation of the school in my final year, it had the distinction of being the oldest school in the country still on its original site. And yes, I get that your comment was tongue in cheek and a sterling example of bantam banter. :silly:
Pickett
Roar Rookie
Did you go to Cleveland Papi? Don’t you have to be smart to go there? Or did it become selective after you left?
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Not a fan of chasing league players, even those who have plaed rugby in the past, in his case 8 years ag! Monies would be better used to target development and juniors. However, if players are allowed to choose for themselves, franchies like the Force and a lesser extent te Rebels woul always be behind the top choices of NSW, Qld or the ACT. If RA brings in central contracting, it will help the two leaser sides.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
You didn't play between 1981 - 1983 then because Clevo bashed Sydney Boys High in those years. It was between us and Matraville with Sydney Boys High and Randwick behind us.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
That makes no sense but I gave you a Like anyway to encourage more banter. :laughing:
criag
Roar Rookie
Sydney Boys High is not a private school. (So you were that guy in the sky blue jumper that I constantly rang rings around!…I may have even played with you….I was a ring-in for them in a 7s comp once.)
criag
Roar Rookie
At least the players that lose their passion for the game at the Roosters actually leave...unlike those in Xmas colours that just hang around and heap more misery on their hapless supporters. :silly:
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Of ex-NRL Wallaby wannabes?
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Supporters need to stop drifting away and the time for dramatic change is soon. The supporters were the lifeblood of the Australian game, just ebbing into the sand. Legally the supporters, the true owners of the game, have no right. Standing and withholding financial support will win this day. We just need to have a leader plant their flag on the hill and show us the light on the next one.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Is that a bad thing? I don’t get the anti Burgess campaign. He was selected as a long term 6, without enough time to make that transmission they used him as a 12. They were not defeating Fiji until Burgess came on, straightened the attack and got England on the front foot. They were on top of Wales until he came off. If Kerevi is the benchmark then Crichton probably goes OK in my view. Like too many other positions the SR and Wallaby ranks are full of guys who do not have the skills to play their position.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Schoolboys rep teams mean nothing from a professional standpoint. Of course he played schoolboys, he’s an elite athlete. Man against boys.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
It’s a problem for the Chooks, Bunnies & the Beagles. GPS schools all in that area more or less.
Albo
Roar Rookie
With all the other bodies ? :silly:
Stewy76
Roar Rookie
You're dead right mate.. he was stupid to make those sort of comments while involved in a sporting code that is riddled with punters who are that way inclined..
jdubs
Roar Rookie
Other school kids, their parents and the old boys etc. Some school games get thousands. But the point is not about viewership, it's more about participation and engagement