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Why Jordan Petaia’s NRL link is ‘a scary prospect’ for Australian rugby

France will go into the upcoming Rugby World Cup after another Test triumph, but the same can’t be said for the Wallabies who are still winless under coach Eddie Jones.

Former Wallabies outside back Cameron Shepherd has explained how losing Jordan Petaia to a rival code is “a scary prospect” for Australian rugby in the wake of recent reports.

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As reported earlier this week by Sydney Morning Herald and 9News reporter Michael Chammas, St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan has reached out to Petaia’s management.

The Dragons coach is interested in potentially luring the young Wallaby over to the NRL as the club weighs up the possibility of potentially replacing centre Zac Lomax.

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This news comes less than 50 days after it was revealed by The Daily Telegraph that Petia had been approached by the NFL International Player Pathway, a Queensland NRL side and Japanese rugby clubs.

With Wallabies wing Mark Nawaqanitawase already leaving the code at the end of 2024 to join the Sydney Roosters, and with some uncertainty surrounding Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s move to rugby union, it would be a tough blow to see Petaia leave Australian rugby.

“It’s a scary prospect,” Cameron Shepherd said on Stan Sports’ Rugby Heaven.

“You think that there’s also maybe a lot of conversations saying you paid so much money for other players, why aren’t we spending more to retain that local talent?

“You look at Jordan Petaia, two World Cups, he’s 23, he’s played 30-plus caps for Australia, I think I’m pretty close to the mark on that one. He’s a talent, and he’s someone we have to work to retain.”

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It’s been a big couple of days for Australian rugby with reports that the Sydney Roosters were going to try and retain Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii breaking earlier this week.

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Journalist Neil Breen told 2GB radio this week that the Tricolours were “working overtime” to try and convince Suaalii to backflip on his lucrative deal with Rugby Australia and the Waratahs.

But as Rugby Heaven panellist Sera Naiqama explained, it would be “so dishonest” of Suaalii to make that decision to remain in the NRL after agreeing to the deal.

“It would be a huge blow considering that we locked his deal in at a time when Rugby Australia was in a lot of turmoil,” Naiqama said.

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“He cost a lot of money for us to lock him in for what five years? Valued at about a $5 million contract.

“For him to back out would be so dishonest. Don’t commit yourself to something you know you’re not going to see through.

“There’s got to be some sort of loyalty when you’re being called in with huge responsibility and huge money attached to your name.”

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IkeaBoy 33 minutes ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Very, very thoughtful piece!


It’s far too much rugby for players as it stands and the new competitions - club world cup and Nations cup - are proposed on the basis it’s the best players competing who will usually be established test players.


An established NH test player is in pre-season from August (at the latest) then going thorough until the following July. They likely will have carried niggles and some injuries into their pre-season. They would then have between 22-30 domestic games if their teams went far and contested finals in say the URC and CC. Although many would have stand down periods, they would still train and be squad ready for all of those games.


Their test commitments across that same time would be 3/4 games (Nov series) then 5 games (6 Nations) with a rest for the July development tours. That rest would only now be once every 4 years with the Lions, Nations Cup and RWC warm-ups occupying the July window.


A squad player at club level would potentially have a full run of games in any given season but run a greater risk of injury the more often they play. They would likely know that form alone wouldn’t get them to the next level and into a national squad. It would be their bodies and their ability to recover quickly and deal with elite level competition. They wouldn’t have the baseline of having played an 11 month season so how could they upsurge a 40 cap player?


I think there will be a huge divide before long between solid club players, who are basically salary men, and the ringfenced test animals who will likely dwindle in numbers as their playing demands increase.

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