Out of favour Rabbitoh Luke Keary is considering a shock switch to rugby union

JUST 17 months ago Luke Keary was a premiership winning five-eighth. Now the out of favour Rabbitoh is considering a shock switch to rugby union.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 22: Luke Keary laughs as he is interviewed during a South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL media session at Redfern Oval on February 22, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

OUT-of-favour Rabbitoh Luke Keary is considering a shock switch to rugby union next year.

Just 17 months ago Keary was a grand final winning five-eighth at the centre of a State of Origin tug of war between NSW and Queensland over his future services.

But The Daily Telegraph can reveal the former Australian schoolboy rugby union star is weighing up a return to the 15-a-side code after so far failing to secure a new deal with South Sydney.

In the wake of Keary’s much publicised pre-season bust up with Russell Crowe, there has been mounting speculation that Keary is on the outer with some sections at Souths.

While Keary’s management has denied there has been any evidence of ongoing hostilities, the fact is he remains without an offer for next season.

And it has now got to the stage where the gifted 24-year-old needs to re-evaluate his future after previously declaring he didn’t want to leave the Redfern-based club.

“We will be exploring all avenues, whether it is rugby or rugby league,” Keary’s manager Paul Sutton told The Daily Telegraph on Monday night.

With the Rabbitohs still reeling after confirmation on Monday that Adam Reynolds had suffered a fractured jaw that is likely to sideline the halfback for six weeks, Keary is expected to get his chance to impress potential interest when he returns from suspension to take on Newcastle this Saturday.

Luke Keary and Chris McQueen show of the NRL trophy after winning the 2014 grand final. Picture Gregg Porteous

In a double blow, John Sutton will also be out for up to four months with a pectoral tear he suffered in the win over the Roosters.

Before Reynolds’ shocking injury on Sunday, there was every chance Keary would struggle to make it straight back into the starting side after stand-in five-eighth Cody Walker also starred in his NRL debut at age 26.

But form over the next two months is now likely to determine who will eventually partner Reynolds in the halves when he finally returns from injury.

Whatever the case, it appears almost certain that Keary will have to find a new home for next year after negotiations stalled with the Rabbitohs.

There was talk that Keary had an offer taken off the table after his run-in with Crowe, but Sutton said that was not the case.

“No. I’d spoken to them long, long before that but there was nothing (certain),” Sutton said.

Sutton said Souths had indicated that they would like to keep Keary but at this point it was a waiting game to see if they could make a firm offer for next year and beyond.

But if Keary can come out and produce the type of form that he delivered on the way to the premiership triumph in 2014 that had NSW and Queensland fighting over his allegiance, Souths might end up finding themselves in a battle to keep him.

A former student at Oakhill College at Castle Hill, Keary played rugby union at school and was selected as fullback in the 2010 Australian Schoolboys.

Asked if returning to rugby was now a serious option, Sutton said: “Like I said, he’d consider anything.

“He likes rugby, he likes league. He just needs to see what offers come his direction.”

Meanwhile, Reynolds will visit a surgeon on Tuesday to find out if he will need an operation to repair the damage he did after colliding with Roosters prop Kane Evans on Sunday.

There was a suggestion on Monday that Reynolds may have been injured in an earlier incident after copping a sly elbow to the face off Blake Ferguson in a tackle.

But while Ferguson did appear to rough Reynolds up in that tackle, the Rabbitohs halfback played on without any apparent signs of discomfort for several minutes before he came out reeling in pain after the collision with Evans.

Originally published as Out of favour Rabbitoh Luke Keary is considering a shock switch to rugby union