{"id":317746,"date":"2023-07-21T05:11:57","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T05:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=317746"},"modified":"2023-07-21T05:59:18","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T05:59:18","slug":"code-hopping-greats-cold-reality-check-for-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=317746","title":{"rendered":"Code-hopping great's cold reality check for rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has identified Cameron Murray as rugby's dream NRL target<\/a> but dual code great Mat Rogers says Payne Haas should be top of the hitlist.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rogers played 45 Tests for Australia as well as representing the Kangaroos and Queensland in a glittering league career that included 200 first grade games.\ufeff<\/p>\n

He played under Jones during a golden era in which he and fellow code-hoppers Lote\ufeff Tuqiri and Wendell Sailor fired the Wallabies to Bledisloe Cup glory and the 2003 Rugby World Cup final.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With Roosters weapon Joseph Suaalii already on the \ufeffbooks from 2024 on<\/a>, Jones and aggressive Rugby Australia \ufeffchairman Hamish McLennan have made it clear they would like to attract more NRL talent to the 15 man game.<\/p>\n

"The greatest guy to get would be Payne Haas," Rogers told Stan Sport's Rugby Heaven<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"Everyone talks about Cam Murray but you put Payne Haas on the side of a scrum or at lock, he's just devastating in terms of a ball carrier.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Why Matildas 'weren't honest' about Kerr injury<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Rattled' Cummins ripped for Ashes shocker<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Blazing ton lifts England as Aussies 'completely dominated'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Payne<\/p>\n

"That's a guy that can do some damage, but he's got great footwork and he's got great awareness with the ball, he can offload, he can do it all. He'd be devastating in rugby."<\/p>\n

For all his Haas admiration, Rogers hoped that RA focused the majority of its attention on retaining its own talent.<\/p>\n

The now 47-year-old player manager was a schoolboy rugby star and said he would never have joined the NRL if \ufeffthe money on offer was comparable.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Sean Maloney, Morgan Turinui and Stephen Hoiles unpack a heartbreaking Wallabies loss against the Pumas and search for Bledisloe Cup hope<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/between-two-posts-1\/international-thrillers-wallaby-coach-killers\/embed?style=Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

"We look after a lot of kids that are in those systems," Rogers said.<\/p>\n

"We see rugby league clubs coming in and just taking our best kids because they're prepared and they're ready. So I'd love to see Rugby Australia address that so that you don't have to go looking over the fence for the talent."<\/p>\n

Rogers also described the "Paris or Parramatta\ufeff" line trotted out by rugby types as tired and irrelevant.<\/p>\n

\"Rogers<\/p>\n

"What rugby can't hang their hat on anymore is 'oh, you know, we're a global game, you'll travel the world.' Kids don't understand that. Like they'll travel the world when they get paid playing rugby league and they're going to get paid sooner," Rogers argued.<\/p>\n

"It doesn't cost a lot of money. But when a club comes and puts money on the table, in front of a 15-year-old blue collar kid and family, when the money's there, it means they feel wanted. It's not much money at all.<\/p>\n

"But if you want to keep the best kids, you're going to have to put your hand in your pocket. That's the nature of business.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1682208777242808320?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

"And they'll end up retaining many of the top kids that they end up losing. Your Kalyn Pongas, your Angus Crichtons, your Cam Murrays, your Mat Rogers' of the day.<\/p>\n

"I loved rugby, I never wanted to leave it, but the reality was there was money on the table here to go and do something I love to get paid for. And there was none over here.<\/p>\n

"So, hopefully they can rectify it. Rugby league and rugby union, they're in such a battle for talent. They're both professional. One's just handling it a little bit better than the other at the minute."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has identified Cameron Murray as rugby's dream NRL target but dual code great Mat Rogers says Payne Haas should be top […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":317748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=317746"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317751,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317746\/revisions\/317751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/317748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=317746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=317746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=317746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}