Hamish McLennan reveals how Rugby Australia blew Angus Crichton deal, backs Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to be Wallabies captain
Roosters star Angus Crichton could have easily been playing in the Wallabies spring tour, but instead lined up for the Kangaroos. Hamish McLennan reveals how Rugby Australia botched their Crichton chase.
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Hamish McLennan says Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii will captain the Wallabies as the former Rugby Australia chairman detailed the shocking abuse he has suffered over the Roosters whizkid’s $5 million code switch.
McLennan also hit back at claims the Suaalii deal could send rugby broke, declaring the 21-year-old will deliver “tens of millions” for the sport on his way to becoming the poster boy of the Wallabies.
The former NRL ace made a stunning Wallabies debut in last week’s win over England and will start from the bench in Monday’s clash against Wales at Cardiff on Monday morning.
Ahead of Suaalii’s second Test in Wallaby gold, McLennan lifted the lid on how he pulled off the coup, how close his clubmate Angus Crichton came to defecting as well and the personal fallout from signing the Roosters young gun.
CRICHTON COCK-UP
McLennan says Suaalii’s ex-teammate Crichton could easily be on this Spring Tour.
The Roosters back-rower endured a mental-health struggle that included a stint in rehab last year. The Roosters even agreed terms with David Fifita this year. It was only the Titans hulk’s shock contract backflip which freed-up salary-cap space to keep Crichton, who has since gone on a form rampage to ink a two-year Roosters extension.
“Angus Crichton is another one we should have had,” McLennan said.
“The Crichtons are family friends and when he was going through his tough times at the Roosters, I was contacted.
“Angus absolutely would have come back, but there were concerns he was damaged goods at RA.
“He started in rugby, he was an Australian Schoolboy and I believe we would have got him for a good price, but rugby stuffed the deal and credit to Angus for turning his life around at the Roosters.”
CAPTAIN JOE
Suaalii has played just 80 minutes of Test rugby but McLennan says it is only a matter of time before the King’s high-school phenom ascends to skipper the Wallabies.
“I think Joseph could easily be a Wallabies captain,” he said.
“He is such a good role model for young kids.
“If you are a kid who is deciding between rugby union or rugby league, there will be a ton of kids saying I want to be like Joseph Suaalii and that was always the plan to get him back to rugby.
“I have no doubt he won’t be a one-hit wonder. He will keep playing well. I know he will.
“You can’t underestimate what he did last weekend. The last game of rugby he played was in year 11 at high school, and he went straight into a Test match before 80,000 fans at Twickenham, which we weren’t meant to win, and he changed the team.
“Don’t forget, we came stone, bone-arsed last in the Rugby Championship and the only thing that has changed in that team is Joseph Suaalii.
“He has this magic about him, he has electrified the team and lifted them.
“He is worth tens of millions now but he will keep kids in our pathways playing rugby union.
“Joseph is a superstar. He will become the face of Australian rugby and he will get the team winning, which will increase the value of every commercial asset, including the media rights.
“And to think Phil Waugh (RA CEO) and Daniel Herbert (chairman) wanted to hand him back to the Roosters.”
THE SUAALII RAID
It took about nine months for McLennan to complete the Suaalii heist.
There were six to eight meetings with his agent Isaac Moses over that period, with McLennan saying he faced internal doubts as he brokered the three-year deal that could ignite Australian rugby.
“There was a ton of resistance from the likes of current chair Dan Herbert and the former CEO (Andy Marinos), and I know a lot of Queensland administration didn’t like it either,” he said.
“In 2022, we’d lost a winnable series against England in Australia and then lost to Italy for the first time in history. There were no signs that the team was really going to improve.
“I asked the CEO at the time (Marinos) had anyone called Joseph yet, to which the answer was, ‘No’.
“I was incredibly frustrated so I took it upon myself to call him. I tracked his phone number down and rang him directly. We chatted. I said to Joseph, ‘Have you ever thought of coming to rugby’ and he said, ‘Yes, I have but no-one has ever asked me’.
“He said he had always dreamt of being a Waratah and a Wallaby.
“That was music to my ears.
“There is an arrogance in rugby union. They (rugby powerbrokers against the deal) probably thought it was a lot of money, but if you look at his performance at Twickenham, it’s a good purchase.
“I think they fail to realise that the poor performance of the Wallabies over the last 20 years has done more to hurt the code and its value more than anything else.
“I absolutely could see that we needed an intervention and an injection of talent.”
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
After nine months of talks, Suaalii’s mind was just about made up. The heart told him to sign with Rugby Australia. The head was nearly there. A visit to the McLennan household sealed the deal.
“We got into the beginning of 2023 and Joseph had agreed to come (to rugby),” he said. “Then his agent called and said, ‘I have an unusual request but his family wants to meet your family’, so I invited them over to dinner with my family.
“Among the people at the dinner were Eddie Jones (then Wallabies coach) and Phil Waugh, who has since bizarrely denied he was at the dinner, but he was definitely there.
“After that dinner, I just knew Joseph would be a main part of turning rugby in Australia around.
“It was one of the most enjoyable dinners of my life. We all connected and got on really well.
“Joseph’s maturity at the dinner convinced me it wouldn’t be a risk. He is an amazing human being. He’s got that X-factor and an aura around him that is hard to explain, but you see it very rarely in people.
“He was great at conversation but also so polite. It was little things like him cleaning the plates up after dinner and helping pack everything away. He was genuinely interested in everyone at the dinner.
“Joseph is a special person and he is such an asset for rugby.”
THE ABUSE
What hurts McLennan most is not that he was ousted as RA chair in the wake of the Suaalii deal, but the personal torment he and his family suffered.
“I’ve copped all sorts of abuse,” he said.
“It was really unpleasant and unwarranted considering all I tried to do was spark some life into rugby from the brink of insolvency in 2020.
“I did the whole thing for free while donating a substantial amount of money.
“The only thing I regret is the effect it had on my family and the poor treatment my family got as a consequence.
“My daughter got trolled online and there was a lot of hate and vitriol and a lot of stuff made up, when the RA board was across every decision and endorsed the lot.
“I can handle the truth, but don’t make stuff up.
“There were people that tried to do a hatchet job on me but my only objective was to try and bring success to Australian rugby from the train wreck of the previous administration.”
THE FUTURE
There is a view McLennan’s huge investment in Suaalii has seriously damaged RA’s hopes of retaining off-contract stars.
RA have already spent more than $50 million of an $80m debt facility loan, with the governing body haemorraghing around $12m alone propping up the Waratahs and Brumbies.
McLennan slams suggestions he is responsible for leaving RA financially hamstrung.
“Rugby is so conservative. They just don’t get it,” he said.
“I knew if we made the investment (in Suaalii), we would get more back.
“When I took over (as chairman), rugby was a complete mess. We had lost $25 million and three years later, we turned it into an $8m profit. I argued we needed to sign players because most of RA’s revenue comes from the Wallabies and we had been losing for 20 years.
“RA already has a cost base of around $120m and spends tens of millions on players.
“Re-allocate some of that spend to get better players and use the success of Joseph to win some more sponsors and leverage the England win to get more in the next media rights deal.
“Better players leads to more on-field success which leads to more media rights dollars.
“The real story here is what RA is spending to keep some of the Super clubs afloat.
“Joseph has nothing to do with it.”
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