CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Sydney Rooster’s second-rower Angus Crichton has revealed that he is weighing up his future with the Eastern Suburbs NRL club, after being kept in the dark about their decision to sign Queenslander David Fifita to a long-term deal.
Crichton, who has been delivering some of his career best performances throughout the 2024 season, has not recieved any confirmation as to whether the Roosters will be still keen on re-signing him after the arrival of Fifita.
This lack of transparency may indeed trigger Crichton to engage in some future-proofing of his own, given the fact that he is off contract at the end of the season and has been made offers from several clubs both inside and outside the NRL.
As a former Australian Schoolboys rugby union representative, who played both codes growing up, it is lost on nobody that Crichton would be a walk-in start for the Wallabies side, in the lead up to their 2027 world cup.
Given Australia’s poor performance at the 2023 World Cup, the slate has been completely cleared and is ready for the captaincy to be immediately handed to an experienced ball playing forward with big game experience.
The 28-year-old was one of the earliest of high school rugby union internationals who never once played a game professionally, instead accepting an offer from the South Sydney Rabbitohs at 18. In turn, beginning the NRL’s highly succesful trend of directly poaching from the Super Rugby’s dwindling grassroots programmes.
However, given his current club’s decision to chase headlines that directly affect his future in his own jersey, Crichton might just take up the offer to lead a desperate Wallabies back to their former glory at a home World Cup as the most paid and most famous Australian international of both codes with a truly global profile.
It is believed that the NRL will probably intervene as much as they can to prevent any cross-code movement, knowing full well that Crichton has the clout to bring a wave of their players with him, just like he did to rugby union as a teenager.
Either that, or he could just move to the Panthers and put up with a 55 minute commute in exchange for a couple more NRL premierships.
