The Sydney Roosters and Rugby Australia held high-level talks about teenage superstar spending a gap year back in rugby league.
The Sydney Roosters and Rugby Australia held recent talks about a unique deal that would have seen Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii loaned back to rugby league in 2026.
While it is not unusual for rugby players to be granted sabbaticals to play Japanese or French rugby, RA considered the unprecedented idea of loaning its star signing to a rival code in a deal that would have seen Suaalii playing for the Roosters in between the marquee years of a 2025 British and Irish Lions tour and a home Rugby World Cup in 2027.he was approached by the Roosters about the idea, but that it didn’t go much further. The Roosters declined to comment.
The Roosters paid Suaalii close to $800,000 in 2024 and would not have been willing to pay him much more if he was to return to the sport.RA was equally reluctant to tip in a large amount of Suaalii’s contract for him to play another sport and the two parties agreed to end the conversation. RA remains open to the idea of Suaalii serving a sabbatical playing rugby overseas despite it having no contractual arrangements to do so.
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