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‘I’d carve up’: NRL star ‘100 per cent’ open to rugby switch
By Finn Morton
NRL star Josh Addo-Carr believes he’d “carve up” rugby union as the New South Wales Blues and Australia Kangaroos representatives expressed an interest in jumping codes.
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Addo-Carr, who was famously branded “the fastest man on the planet” by Phil Gould during a State of Origin clash, is a dual-premiership winner with the Melbourne Storm.
The 28-year-old made a big-money move back to Sydney with the Canterbury Bulldogs ahead of the 2022 NRL season, and the speedster is open to another headline-grabbing move down the track.
While Addo-Carr has not been publicly identified as a cross-code target for Rugby Australia, the Rugby League World Cup winner is “100 per cent” open to a shock move to the 15-player game.
“Scott Wisemantel did a little pre-season up with them in Lennon Head,” Addo-Carr told Josh Mansour on the Let’s Trot Show.
“I reckon I’d carve up.
“Bruh, 100 per cent… Yeah, 100 per cent. I reckon it’d be fun. Meet new people, travel the world. I’ll give it a crack bro. Yeah, why not?”
Rugby Australia signed Sydney Roosters flyer Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to a lucrative multi-year deal earlier this year, with the teenager expected to play a leading role against the British and Irish Lions in 2025.
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While that decision made headlines at the time as RA claimed one over their rival code the NRL, CEO Phil Waugh has ruled out throwing big cheques at rugby league’s finest – which is possibly a concern as Addo-Carr would seemingly cost a fair amount to sign.
“I keep talking about being fiscally responsible because the game historically has spent more than we can afford,” Waugh said, as reported by AAP.
“Which is why then I come back to what’s the environment that we’re creating to attract players?
“So it’s not just all about money. You don’t want to be attracting people just because of the money and then you don’t have the environment sorted out.
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“So we can’t ignore the fact that we’ve got athletes, not just rugby league targeting them, but you’ll have overseas clubs target them as well from a rugby perspective.
“And we need to ensure that we’re creating an environment that people want to be here and we’re filling stadiums and it’s a real buzz around the game that we’ve experienced previously.
“But we’re certainly not there right now.”
But the idea that Addo-Carr is interested in a switch comes as a breath of fresh air for rugby union in Australia amidst a transitional period for the sport.
Eddie Jones recently resigned as the Wallabies’ head coach after Australia failed to make it out of the Rugby World Cup pool stage for the first time.
Six member union states also publicly expressed their disapproval of Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan, who has since moved on from the role and been replaced.
Wallabies wing Mark Nawaqanitawase, who is widely considered one of the best young rugby talents in the country, has also reportedly met with the Sydney Roosters over a possible move.
I bet the Ozzie union guys love a league man telling them he’s going to carve it up if he changes code. At 88kg he might not want to get caught at the bottom of too many of those ruck things he won’t have seen in league….
Paying money for a code switcher who is 28 would be the final nail for RA. Let’s hop this remains one man’s fantasy.
He’d be one of the last persons we need in Australian rugby
There are already plenty of NRL players in league, they problem Australia has utilizing them as a resource, just as the ones that have stuck with rugby are, is that the International game has had to prop up NZ and Aus nations, among others, domestic tournaments. So any NRL player looking to try something different has to choose a different country to play Union, unless they are at a level like Addo-Carr who could make immediate inroads into rugby.
It’s a real shame as the Australian rugby community would probably be the best place for a leaguie to get upto speed in the game.