Why Roosters star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii should get out of Rugby Australia deal now | Locker Room
It’s bordering on negligent for Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to take up a contract with the ARU that was sold to him by two of the key signatories that won’t be there when he arrives, writes DAVID RICCIO.
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Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has been sold a pup by Rugby Australia and should do everything he can to backflip on the free-falling footy code.
If it’s good enough for Eddie Jones to walk away from the dishevelled code, it’s good enough for the Roosters teenager.
Jones, the Wallabies head coach who Suaalii thought he would be playing under, is gone.
Furthermore RA chair Hamish McLennan, who signed Suaalii, has been ousted.
It’s bordering on negligent for Suaalii to take up a contract that was sold to him by two of the key signatories that won’t be there when he arrives.
Jones, equal-parts experienced in winning trophies and enemies, had told anyone that has wanted to listen that Australia’s rugby system is broken.
“When you’ve had 20 years of unsuccessful rugby, that’s because of the system. I went in with a plan of how to change the system and that’s unable to be changed,’’ Jones told reporters recently.
“I felt my job would be compromised for the next four years, which I wasn’t prepared to do.”
The last line should shine like a flashing ambulance siren in front of Suaalii.
His job, his impact as a footballer, is also about to be compromised.
He is moving to a workplace that resembles little of the rainbows and unicorns he was sold last March.
Nothing illustrates the fragility and confusion of the ARU more than last week.
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh stepped forward last Wednesday to completely contradict what RA chair and Peter V’landys Aldi-version, McLennan, declared just six months ago.
Waugh, who deserves credit for speaking actual sense, said last week RA has ruled out splashing out any further cash on NRL stars, saying the 15-a-side can’t continue to spend ‘’more than we can afford.’’
You can be sure that’s not what Suaalii was told back in March.
We know this, because last May McLennan told us RA had enough cash to bring in more NRL players, like Roosters forward Angus Crichton.
“Without being prejudicial to Joey’s negotiations, we can easily afford Joey and Angus Crichton as well,” McLennan said.
But now they can’t..
Suaalii, 19, penned a $4.8 million three-year deal with Rugby Australia with the view of playing the British and Irish Lions in 2025 and the Rugby World Cup on home soil two years later.
It’s the richest deal in Australian Rugby.
He’s then coming back to the Roosters in 2028.
“He tells us he’s coming back in 2028,” Roosters chairman Nick Politis told Nine news last week.
When asked if Suaalii would be welcomed back, Politis said: “Of course, yeah. Always a Rooster.”
You can’t fault Rugby Australia for chasing and securing Suaalii. He is a rare talent with extraordinary skill, power and size.
But he can’t tackle rugby’s enormous fight for eyeballs, credibility and wins alone.
What made Rugby Australia’s last pilfering of NRL talent 20-years ago so successful was that they climbed the wall in numbers.
Cross-code internationals Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri did together what Suaalii will be forced, in the wake of Waugh’s comments, to do alone.
He’s been left hung out to dry.
I spoke to a prominent sports lawyer on Friday. He’s handled some of the biggest and most recent legal cases in Australian sport.
At the very least, the lawyer explained, Suaalii should be scouring his ARU contract with a fine tooth comb for a potential get-out clause.
Jones openly declared, when he was fleetingly in charge of the Wallabies, that Suaalii’s signing was nothing more than a PR stunt.
“We (Rugby Australia) definitely bought a rugby league player (Suaalii) to get back in the shop window, that is 100 per cent true and now people are talking about rugby again,’’ Jones said.
.
Few know, but Suaalii pulled out of the Samoan Test squad ahead of the recent Pacific Championships.
He knew that if he did play for Samoa, it would extend his annual leave entitlements and therefore push his return to Roosters pre-season training back until mid-December.
After a holiday, he wanted to get back to the Roosters as soon as possible.
It makes you wonder, why would he want to leave?
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