‘Best player on the field’: Wallaby wants to see NRL star jump codes

When Rugby Australia confirmed that famous coach Eddie Jones would take over the Wallabies’ job in January, it was the start of a renewed rivalry between rugby union and league.

From day one, Jones wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. The rugby guru wanted RA to sign some of the biggest names in the NRL, including Nathan Cleary and Matt Burton.

But there was one leaguie that Jones wanted more than any other.

New South Wales and Australian lock Cameron Murray was front-and-centre on Jones’ NRL hit list.

“Of the current players, there’s a rugby player called Cameron Murray who’d be pretty handy,” Jones told SEN’s Mornings with Matt White earlier this year.

“He’d be a fantastic 12 in rugby.”

Murray, 25, was a rugby union schoolboy sensation before embarking on a professional NRL career with the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

The hard-hitting defender was the captain of Newington’s First XV when they won Sydney’s GPS competition during his high school days.

While Murray was eventually lost to league, the mesmerizing skill that he showed at such a young age clearly had an impact.

Wallabies prop Angus Bell is convinced that Murray would be “the best inside centre in the world” if the Rabbitohs enforcer decided to jump codes.

“Cam Murray, 100 per cent,” Wallabies prop Angus Bell said on YKTR’s Ebbs and Flows.

“Bro, when I was in school, I was in year nine and I was watching him play First XV in our school system. He was the best player on the field by country miles, every single time he took the field.

“The position of inside centre just suits him real well. He’s not huge, he’s very evasive, unreal ball carrier, the courage.

“He would just be, I reckon, the best inside centre in the world.”

Another name that has been in the headlines recently in Brisbane Broncos star Payne Haas. With some uncertainty surrounding his future, rugby was reportedly interested in the prop.

According to The Courier Mail, the Western Force made “preliminary inquiries” with Haas’ management. But Haas is believed to have signed a three-year extension with Brisbane.

In a perfect world, Australian wing Mark Nawaqanitawase would love to see Haas playing blindside flanker in rugby union.

“I’d put Payne Haas in there, for sure,” Nawaqanitawase said. “I’d put him (at) six.

“Big boy, just carry and tackle. Keep it simple for him, I think he’d do some damage. Look at him, he’s obviously doing a lot of damage in the NRL and his engine, I’ve heard his engine’s unreal.

“He’d be pretty good.”