Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Mark Nawaqanitawase has been warned a Wallabies jersey won’t be gifted to him even should the stellar dual-code talent decide to return to the Australian rugby fold.
“We’re not desperate for anyone,” coach Les Kiss told reporters on Friday, when asked whether Australian rugby was desperate to win the battle with Fiji and Italy over who the cosmopolitan ‘Marky Mark’ might represent at next year’s World Cup.
“We want people to earn their position. This jersey is not just given.
“It won’t be gifted to him, he has to play well. And he has to show that in what he does overseas.”
Kiss, of course, understands the vast interest surrounding the Roosters’ astonishingly gifted NRL premiership winner, who’s settling back into union life with Japanese club side Saitama Wild Knights while weighing up his international options.
The 26-year-old Sydneysider has reiterated he’s expecting no special treatment should he try to add to his 11 appearances for the Wallabies, the last of which came three years ago at the World Cup.
And Kiss made it clear it wasn’t a question of Nawaqanitawase waltzing straight back in from where he left off because he understood “he has to earn it.”
“He’s made his decision to play in Japan and get his feet under the table back in rugby. He’s very pragmatic and open about,” said Kiss.
“He’s been out of rugby for a couple of years, played right-hand side only, on the edge near the paint, and has ventured into the midfield very, very rarely in the game. So he knows he’s got a lot of work to do in that space.
“He said ‘I just want you to know I don’t want this to be about me’ – but you can’t stop the conversation at times.
“We’re about team-first, and he talked about team-first, and the ethos he built at his last clubs, particularly Eastern Suburbs Roosters. That’s all he’s about, and he knows that he has to earn it.”
So will another key rugby convert Angus Crichton, Nawaqanitawase’s old Roosters colleague who popped in to see his potential future Wallabies teammates at their Teddington training base on Friday along with another premiership winner, Brisbane Lions’ AFL luminary Will Ashcroft.
Crichton could easily have been on this Wallabies tour if not for a foot injury, but Kiss had encouraging news about the 30-year-old’s readiness to step into the union fray with the Waratahs.
“He’s looking forward to just settling that foot, it’s getting better every day, and he’ll go and get into the Waratahs’ pre-season. I think, initially, playing in the midfield, that’s how I see it,” said Kiss.
