{"id":391634,"date":"2024-05-07T09:26:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T09:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=391634"},"modified":"2024-05-07T21:05:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T21:05:46","slug":"manu-admits-to-all-blacks-dream-in-return-denial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=391634","title":{"rendered":"Manu admits to All Blacks 'dream' in return denial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney Roosters<\/a> Joey Manu<\/a> has poured cold water on suggestions he'll return to the club after his contract in Japanese rugby ends, while admitting his desire to play for the All Blacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In April, Manu signed a one-year deal with Toyota Verblitz<\/a>, leaving the door open for a rugby league return.<\/p>\n

However, Manu denies that's a certainty without completely ruling it out. \ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Billionaire on brink of selling embattled Supercars team<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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"I\ufeff don't even know to be honest," he told media on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

"Obviously next year is rugby union, that's my main focus.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

"But I just want to focus on this season but then I haven't really said I'm coming back so once I get over there I'm playing rugby union and I'm just going to try my best at that and if I enjoy it I've got a few things I want to do."<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old admitted one of those things is to pull on the famous All Blacks jersey. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"Obviously that's a big dream for any Kiwi kid, but it's hard because you have to play in New Zealand to play with them so we'll see how that goes," Manu said.<\/p>\n

"Hopefully they change the rules."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Under eligibility rules, only domestic-based players can represent the All Blacks.<\/p>\n

Pressed on whether the Japanese deal was an attempt to put himself in the shop window for Super Rugby Pacific clubs, Manu denied that's the case. \ufeff<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/9NewsSyd\/status\/1787766378407121210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"That's not my focus, I'm going over there to learn the game again and that's (All Blacks opportunity) down the line," he said.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season, with<\/strong><\/em> every match ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

"It's just for a bit of experience, enjoy something different and also there's some good coaches over there (Ian Foster and Steve Hansen), two ex-All Blacks coaches, obviously \ufeffAaron Smith is over there (too).<\/p>\n

"I just want to learn … just learn the sport again."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sydney Roosters Joey Manu has poured cold water on suggestions he'll return to the club after his contract in Japanese rugby ends, while admitting his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":391640,"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\/391634"}],"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=391634"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":391644,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391634\/revisions\/391644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/391640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=391634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=391634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=391634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}