The Sydney Roosters and Rugby Australia held recent talks about a unique deal that would have seen Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii loaned back to rugby league in 2026.
The high-level discussions between senior officials at the NRL glamour club and Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh took place last month.
Suaalii is contracted to Rugby Australia until after the 2027 World Cup – and potentially for a further two years if he takes up a $4 million player option in his favour for seasons 2028 and 2029 – but sources talking anonymously to protect confidentiality said the 21-year-old was recently the subject of talks between his current and former employers over a cross-code sabbatical.
While it is not unusual for rugby players to be granted sabbaticals to play Japanese or French rugby, RA considered the unprecedented idea of loaning its star signing to a rival code in a deal that would have seen Suaalii playing for the Roosters in between the marquee years of a 2025 British and Irish Lions tour and a home Rugby World Cup in 2027.
Waugh told the Herald he was approached by the Roosters about the idea, but that it didn’t go much further. The Roosters declined to comment. Suaalii’s manager Isaac Moses did not respond to attempts to contact him.
Waugh confirmed he had given brief consideration to an arrangement that could have seen Suaalii’s monster five-year, $8.5 million deal partly financed by a rival code.
Joseph Suaalii is about to begin his three-year deal with Rugby Australia.Credit: Digitally altered/Getty
However, the talks fell over when the Roosters learnt that Suaalii had a two-year player option in his favour for 2028 and 2029 to remain in the 15-a-side code for almost $2 million a season.
The Roosters paid Suaalii close to $800,000 in 2024 and would not have been willing to pay him much more if he was to return to the sport.
RA was equally reluctant to tip in a large amount of Suaalii’s contract for him to play another sport and the two parties agreed to end the conversation. RA remains open to the idea of Suaalii serving a sabbatical playing rugby overseas despite it having no contractual arrangements to do so.
RA currently owns the Waratahs, the team Suaalii will play for in the Super Rugby competition next year. A deal with an overseas rugby club could alleviate the financial toll Suaalii’s salary might have on the sport’s bottom line, especially with an $80 million loan hanging over its head.
Joseph Suaalii played four seasons at the Roosters.Credit: Getty
Sydney Roosters billionaire chairman Nick Politis was last year quoted as saying that Suaalii was “always a Rooster”, despite him inking a deal with the Wallabies.
“Joseph is a good guy, a good kid,” Politis told Channel Nine last year. “It’s sad that we’ve lost him to union, but he tells us he’s coming back in 2028.”
The Roosters are now privately resigned to Suaalii not playing in the NRL until at least 2030, when he will be 26 years old coming into the season.
While Waugh was coy on his conversations with the Roosters, he admitted rugby league wasn’t the enemy.
“We need to co-exist with rugby league,” he said. “I’m less concerned about girls or boys playing league and AFL – as long as they are experiencing rugby. You’re not going to get me going head-to-head with Roosters and I think we can co-exist successfully and have done since rugby league was started.”
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