Joseph Suaalii Wallabies: Who’s next on Rugby Australia’s NRL hit list

With Joseph Suaalii on the cusp of becoming a Wallaby, attention will soon turn to Eddie Jones’ next NRL targets. Here are the league names who could be in rugby’s sights.

Joseph Suaalii is poised to quit the Roosters and take up a $1.6 million deal with Rugby Australia in 2025 — and he’s not the only NRL star Rugby Australia has their sights set on

Well placed sources indicate that some high-profile league stars who are all off contract this year are on a list of interest at Rugby Australia.

Rising Roosters gun Suaalii is close to agreeing to switch codes, putting him in line to play for the Wallabies against the British & Irish Lions in two years’ time.

But alongside him, Manly flyer Tolu Koula and Melbourne Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona are wanted by RA.

While Suaalii signed a one-year contract extension with the Roosters until the end of 2024, his agent Isaac Moses has been in direct negotiations with RA chairman Hamish McLennan about the deal for 2025.

Roosters insiders are resigned to losing the talented outside back.

New Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is also determined to revive rugby’s standing in Australia’s sporting landscape, and there would be no bigger statement than poaching the NRL’s best young talent.

Koula, 20, is contracted until the end of 2024, but given his vast rugby experience – he was a member of the Australian Schoolboys side alongside Sua’ali’i in 2019 – he would be an ideal target for the 2025 Lions series.

Tolutau Koula looms as a leading target.

The 115kg behemoth Asofa-Solomona has already explored the possibility of playing rugby for Australia.

He met with former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie when his anti-vaccination position threatened to derail his NRL career in the midst of the Covid-affected 2021 season.

However, that issue was resolved and Asofa-Solomona resumed playing with the Storm.

But the New Zealand-born heavyweight, who grew up dreaming of playing for the All Blacks, is also off contract after this year and Jones, who loves big bodies with aggressive mindsets, could use Asofa-Solomona as a ball-carrying backrow option.

Jones was at the helm of the Wallabies when they picked off Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri and Mat Rogers from league, and all helped Australia reach the 2003 World Cup final.

He is not afraid to shake things up for the sake of Australian rugby.

In an interview with Nine earlier this year, Jones revealed he had three NRL players on his list of targets.

Cameron Murray has rugby experience.

“We always want to develop players in rugby first,” Jones said.

“That’s the No. 1 priority. No. 2 is to get back players who were lost initially from rugby to rugby league due to the financial inducements that league are able to give the players. We want to get players back who are lost. Thirdly, at the right time, is there an opportunity to secure some talent we don’t have in rugby from league? I think there is a strategic plan that needs to be put in place but the first thing is to retain the talent we do have.

“There’s three [NRL targets] that come to mind … All were Australian schoolboys and have done well in the NRL. I’m sure the allure of playing in a home Rugby World Cup might be something to attract them back.”

There are several other NRL stars with rugby backgrounds – including Kangaroos stars Cam Murray.

But Murray signed an extension with South Sydney Rabbitohs until the end of 2025, making it unlikely he’d be chased by Jones.

Nelson Asofa-Solomona has long been linked with a code switch.

WHAT IS SUAALII’S DEAL?

The length and terms of the rugby deal are still being worked out, but sources indicate Suaalii has made a commitment to play union in 2025.

The addition of Suaalii would be a major marketing boost for rugby, as Australia prepares to host the Lions for the first time since 2013.

Given the fact the Lions tour Australia only every 12 years, Suaalii only has one shot to participate in the historic series, and that is a key driver for him.

But the huge money on offer is the other carrot, with no NRL club able to match the deal. Suaalii, 19, is earning $700,000 a year at the Roosters.

Suaalii was determined to wear the fullback jersey for the Roosters, but that option has seemingly disappeared after the club re-signed captain James Tedesco for another year – until the end of 2025 – meaning Suaalii would have had to wait until 2026.

Instead, he’s set to cross codes and become the latest big-name NRL stars turned rugby players, following Israel Folau, Sonny Bill Williams, Lote Tuqiri, Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers.

Incredibly, Suaalii was offered to Rugby Australia as a 16-year-old rising schoolboy star three years ago for $200,000 but was rejected. That led him to pursue a rugby league career with South Sydney Rabbitohs.

In late 2020, rival club the Roosters poached Suaalii from Souths, and he has since gone on to score 17 tries in 27 first grade games, as well as star for Samoa at last year’s Rugby League World Cup.