Rugby league legend Mark Geyer has slammed incoming Wallabies coach Eddie Jones’ pursuit of NRL talent, claiming the move discourages budding rugby union stars.
Jones signed a $4.5 million deal with Rugby Australia and has been tasked with sparking a Wallabies revival after Dave Rennie was sacked on Monday morning.
Jones’ tenure officially begins on January 29 and the 62-year-old has eight months to prepare for the 2023 World Cup in France before the 2027 tournament in Australia, announcing his plan to poach NRL talent.
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“There’s three [NRL players] that come to mind,” Jones said to the SMH.
“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.”
Geyer, who played three Tests for Australia, believes the Wallabies coach announcing he wants to recruit NRL players will only weaken Rugby Australia’s talent pool.
“Eddie Jones is back, he’s back in Australia as the Wallabies coach and probably the best man for the job,” Geyer said on Triple M.
“What he said since coming back into the job for no more than five minutes has got me worried if I was a young rugby union player.
“I want to identify four NRL players, and bring them across, and they are Suaalii, Penisini, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and then the young Manly player (Tolu Koula).
“If I am a young rugby union player listening to that, I’d be saying ‘what the hell am I doing, why am I busting my bum to try and play the code that I love’.
“Look, I am not going to kick a sport while it’s down, because it is down at the moment rugby union, it really is, and I thought Eddie Jones would come back and really make a statement and say ‘you know what, we are really going to look at our grassroots, we are going to build it up’.”
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Players making the cross-code switch is a regular occurrence and most recently Dally M winner Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and former Storm flyer Suliasi Vunivalu have moved to the 15-man game.
However, reports have surfaced that both players were looking for a return to the NRL.
Vunivalu’s future is locked in until the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, but Tuivasa-Scheck is reportedly unhappy after his first season with the Auckland Blues, despite earning a call-up for the All Blacks.
“We saw recently Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Suliasi Vunivalu both go across to rugby for massive, massive money, and guess what, they want to come back,” Geyer said.
“The sport hasn’t grown with the times, everyone is time poor these days, when you have a code that is three points for a field goal, three points for a penalty goal, when you are taking shots from halfway, instead of action.
“They have got to change the rules, rugby union has got to change the rules, they have got to go for two points for a field goal and two for a penalty goal at least.”
