How rugby lost Jared Waerea-Hargreaves in rugby league : Planet Rugby

There was one interested observer in the Murrayfield stands when the Wallabies faced Scotland last month – NRL great Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. It’s a name that may be unfamiliar to many in rugby, but it remains a poignant reminder of what could have been.

Waerea-Hagreaves was in Edinburgh to support and watch his friend and former teammate Joseph Suaalii represent Australia, after recently joining Super League side Hull KR. Young Suaalii has been making waves across the sport since his dramatic debut in the Wallabies’ victory over England at Twickenham.

However, 16 years ago it was another Polynesian talent who escaped union control and defected to the 13-man code, and went on to become one of the best in the league. With three NRL grand final wins, 33 tests for New Zealand and the record holder for most games for the Sydney Roosters with 310 to his name, Waerea-Hagreaves is recognized as possibly the toughest current enforcer of the code.

Compared to Sonny Bill Williams

But in 2007 he was a rising star in Australian rugby who arrived at Iona College in Brisbane. After migrating to Queensland from Rotorua at the age of 11, the promising lock, who at the time was being compared to Sonny Bill Williams, rose through the schoolboy ranks, was recruited by the NSW Waratahs Academy and was chosen to represent Australia in the Under-19 Cup. World Rugby Championship in Ireland.

Like his teammates in green and gold at the time (Pat McCabe, Ben McCalman, Rob Simmons and James Hanson), he seemed destined for Super Rugby and Wallaby glory. But after a bidding war between the Australian Rugby Union, the New Zealand Rugby Union and several NRL clubs, Waerea-Hargreaves defected to the Manly Sea Eagles and the rest, as they say, is history.

The 35-year-old reflected on what he has captured after watching the wallabies in action against Scotland.

“It’s funny you say that. The last 10 or 15 years I’ve watched the Wallabies play, a lot of the guys I’ve played with played for Australia,” he said. Rugby Planet.

“I played as a schoolboy with James Slipper, I played with him in the U-19 World Cup. Seeing him still hanging around was great.

“Now the next generation is coming. Obviously we went to Edinburgh to support a teammate I played with and do some sightseeing. It was great, a great, little experience.

“I was lucky to play with ‘Sue’ (Suaalii), and obviously the Wallabies had a very successful start to the campaign.

‘It feels like the right time’: Wallabies star vows to pursue NFL ‘dream’ as British & Irish Lions series looms

“Just watching it made me very proud, being an older guy who played a few seasons with him at the Roosters and now I can see his journey from afar. “I am very proud to see him go.”

It was Manly scout and former international Noel Cleal who first spotted the Kiwi and convinced him to cross codes. Cleal, who played alongside another rugby star who moved up to the league in the 1980s in Michael O’Connor’s Sea Eagle, knew what a special talent he had on his hands.

Waerea-Hargreaves admitted he had never played in the league before swapping codes, but has no regrets about the move that set him on a very different career path. Now a veteran, the fearsome front rower remains an avid follower of both codes of rugby.

“I was scouted by Crusher (Cleal) when I was 18,” he said.

“I never played rugby league when I first went to Manly. I was also told he was a rugby league player who played rugby just because of the physique he played with.

“When I played, I was constantly trying to charge and hurt people. I was always told in my later years of school rugby that I should give rugby league a try.

I don’t regret the Manly move

“I was at the Waratahs in 2007 and ended up making the Australian under-19 team a year younger. I always thought I would play rugby forever.

“(But) as soon as Manly gave me the opportunity in 2008, I didn’t look back. In 2009 the opportunity came with the Gallos, and it was an opportunity to play in the first category.

“I just wanted to play in the NRL and the caliber of forwards I played with at Manly, they all played representative football. In 2009 the Roosters got the wooden spoon and for me to go to the Chooks and play some NRL every week was a dream of mine.

“That was what I wanted to do and they gave me the opportunity. It’s funny how 15 years go by and you look at the friendships you have for life, the memories you have forever.

“Los Gallos is a place that will always be special in my heart. “I am super grateful.”

by John Davidson