A cross-code war of words has erupted in the fallout of NRL sensation Joseph Suaalii’s signing with Rugby Australia.
With the Origin credentials of Sydney Roosters teenager Suaalii being debated as this year’s series appeoaches, Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McClennan caused a stir by declaring “rugby league should pick on talent and form, and not be vindictive.”
But veteran rugby league journalist Phil Rothfield has hit back in no uncertain terms, urging McClennan to “stick to rah-rahs and leather patches.”
Suaalii is one of the number of potential options for New South Wales coach Brad Fittler, but Rothfield is firmly of the opinion there’s more than a handful of players ahead of him in the pecking order.
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“I’d go with Latrell and Tom Turbo myself in the centres, but there’s also Campbell Graham, Kotoni Staggs, Stephen Crichton and Bradman Best, who I’ve been really impressed with this season,” Rothfield said on the Big Sports Breakfast on Monday morning.
“If Joseph isn’t picked in the NSW side, it won’t be a vindictive decision, as Hamish McClennan has suggested.
“… Those comments are pretty outrageous. He (McLennan) isn’t a student of the game, I don’t know if he watches NRL.”
“I think he should mind his own business. He’s trying to justify a $5 million spend on a 19-year-old.”
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Rothfield admits the Suaalii signing is “an absolute marketing coup” for Rugby Australia but believes at this stage, the Roosters centre isn’t playing anywhere close to that valuation.
“He’s on the most lucrative player contract in this country for a NRL, AFL and rugby union player and with that brings an enormous amount of spotlight on his play,” Rothfield said.
“With that said, he’s not playing well enough to be deserving of a spot in the New South Wales side.”
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Rothfield’s fellow NRL 360 panellist and Daily Telegraph journalist Paul Kent has also taken aim at the rugby boss in the past.
Last month, after Suaalii had signed his $1.6 million/a year contract, Kent blasted McClennan, calling him out for “trying to get a little publicity of rugby league.
“He’s the chairman, I’ve never heard of him before last week but I’ll tell you what, he’s got a bit of an issue does this bloke,” Kent said.
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“He’s driven by ego and he continues to talk about rugby league like … all this bulls**t the rugby people carry on about, ‘good on you playing an Eastern seaboard game — we travel the world’. Well good luck to you.
“He called rugby league people thugs because they weren’t happy with the way this deal was done. He was the one who did the little clandestine deal and didn’t want rugby league people to know what was going on.
“Come on, grow up and be a man about it.”
