Rugby Australia's $2 million fight to sign 16-year-old NRL prodigy
Rugby Australia (RA) have been shown a glimmer of hope in their unlikely battle to sign a 16-year-old schoolboy star, who looks poised to sign with an NRL club.
Joseph Suaalii, a Year 11 student at The King’s School in Sydney, is the subject of a mega-deal in rugby league circles that would make him the richest teenager in the history of the NRL.
Despite significant interest from RA, reports have linked the Australian Schools and U18 representative to the South Sydney Rabbitohs on a four-year deal worth $2 million.
Sualii, who has represented New South Wales at age-grade level in rugby union, rugby league, AFL and basketball, began playing for his school’s 1st XV at the age of 14, and had represented his state’s and country’s U18 sevens teams before his 16th birthday.
Reports indicate incoming Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie offered the 1.97m behemoth a three-year contract with the Waratahs from when he turns 18, but it appears Sualii is on the precipice of pledging his allegiance to the 13-man code.
Set to earn $500,000-per-season, the Waratahs Academy member is said to be viewed as South Sydney’s long-term replacement to star fullback Latrell Mitchell, but RA haven’t given up hope yet.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Sualii isn’t exclusively committed to the Rabbitohs until his 17th birthday, and won’t be eligible to play first-grade rugby league until next year.
With that in mind, RA is hoping a possible tilt at an Olympics gold medal in sevens at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which have been postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, could be enough to sway the cross-code phenomenon.
Had the Olympics not been delayed, Sualii would have been too young to compete at the event that was initially scheduled to kick-off next month.
Although he won’t have turned 18 until shortly after the closing ceremony of next year’s Games, the Herald reports that RA officials are confident Sualii would be cleared to compete after having previously been granted a handful of special dispensations for other 17-year-old athletes to play in open-grade sevens competitions.
“I hope rugby plays on its strengths,” Australian Schools and U18 coach Peter Hewat, who last year included Sualii in his squad that defeated their New Zealand counterparts for the first time in seven years, said.
“At their age their careers could span Olympics, a tour against the [British and Irish] Lions and the next three World Cups. Without putting pressure on them, that would be a pretty big carrot for me as a young player.”
The Waratahs coach is calling for Rugby Australia to pursue a trans-Tasman Super Rugby competition with the New Zealand clubs next year.https://t.co/N5fftRoCmJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 8, 2020
RA could look to New Zealand Rugby for inspiration in terms of snatching teenagers from under the noses of NRL clubs after they managed to lure a teenaged Etene Nanai-Seturo despite him having already signed a deal with the Warriors.
At the age of 15, the electric outside back had signed a five-year deal with the Auckland-based NRL club in 2015, but continued to play both codes at an elite level during his high school years.
The 2017 New Zealand Schoolboys representative then controversially played in two World Sevens Series tournaments for the All Blacks Sevens two years ago while still under contract with the Warriors.
The year beforehand, the player’s lawyers had sent a letter of resignation to the Warriors, claiming the contract he signed as a 15-year-old wasn’t binding due to the age that he committed to the deal.
Both NZR and the Warriors came to an agreement shortly after Nanai-Seturo’s appearances at the Hamilton and Sydney Sevens tournaments, with the league side releasing him under terms and conditions that have remained confidential.
Nanai-Seturo has since gone on to play for the All Blacks Sevens over 60 times, winning the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and has played for Counties Manukau and the Chiefs in the Mitre 10 Cup and Super Rugby.
Comments on RugbyPass
Mack Hansen, Ethan Roots, Taine Plumbtree, Louis Lynagh, Emmanuel Meafou? Which country do you want to pick your Barbarians from?
3 Go to commentsInstead of apologising, try to act like an adult, fcknut.
1 Go to commentsLooks like the Force twisted his leg…ahem arm
5 Go to commentsScotland should change their name to the Barbarians
3 Go to commentsThe game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
2 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
7 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
3 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
2 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
2 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
5 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
5 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
5 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
16 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
16 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
16 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
7 Go to comments