Tahs coach Rob Penney warns players they may have to make way for teen star Joseph Suaalii
While calling a meeting to head off a rift after news of Joseph Suaalii’s impending mega rugby deal, Waratahs coach Rob Penney delivered a blunt assessment about the young gun’s impending arrival.
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Waratahs coach Rob Penney has told his players he won’t hesitate to pick schoolboy superstar Joseph Suaalii ahead of senior members after the NSW squad held a heart to heart meeting following reports the teenager was being offered a fortune.
With existing players already having agreed to accept heavy pay cuts to keep the game afloat, the reports of Suaalii’s eye watering $3 million offer have gone down like a lead stone.
Relations between the game’s paymasters and players are already fragile so the Waratahs’ management called a meeting with players to head off any possible rift.
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“That media report coming out the way it did, the dollar values, which are unsubstantiated, and the pressures that may put internally on individuals given the nature of the current environment,” Penney said.
“We really care for our people and that sort of stuff can cause a level of anxiety that is really unfortunate and unwarranted.
“Realities around recruitment and the big picture stuff that Australian rugby needs to take care of … that‘s no different to any other organisation that are looking to improve and looking to keep good people.
“But the reality is we‘re careful of people that are here as well. We need to be really mindful that anything that’s floating around in the ether is not undermining what we’re trying to put together here and how we’re trying to operate.”
However, Penney also told his players that there was no place for sentiment and if thought Suaalii was ready, he would choose him ahead of current team members.
“It’s a professional environment. There’s an eye on development but it’s about getting results and we probably haven’t been as consistent in that area as we would have liked.
“If he was able to join and he was deemed to be the best option then, certainly, he’d be selected.”
That could be as early as next month if the 16-year-old agrees to the three-year offer, but Penney said he would not rush him for the sake of it.
There’s already been plenty of carrots dangled in front of the hard-running utility back, including representing Australia in Sevens at next year’s Tokyo Olympics, but officials want to ensure he doesn’t burn out.
“You want to still see the individual playing when he’s 35,” Penney said.
“Hopefully he’s going to be a long-term project. It wouldn’t be a decision made in isolation. Very important to get that right but age isn’t a barrier.
“There has been so much turmoil around the organisation over the past few months, but there seems to be a real energy and positivity around what is happening going forward around retention of the boys that we want to keep.
“So engaging them really early on and obviously interacting with those exceptionally talented school level players and younger age group players that are going to be the future of Australian rugby (is important).
“It’s challenging at the moment but the future looks really bright and hearing someone like Joseph, he’s intimated that he’s going to commit to rugby, the game could do a lot for someone like him.
“It’s a global game, there’s sevens and there’s the Olympics into next year.
“In the short to medium term for someone like him there’s a life development opportunity outside of rugby that rugby provides on the back of its global identity.
“If it’s deemed by him and his parents rugby is the way he wants to go. We have a history of nurturing and looking after young men and we would love to be part of that process.”