Roosters rugby exodus worsens

The Sydney Roosters are set to lose a third player to rugby union at the end of 2024 with Angus Crichton to follow Joseph Suaalii and Joseph Manu out the door.

Crichton will reportedly follow Manu to French rugby when his Roosters deal comes to an end in November.

Crichton was linked with a two year deal with Rugby Australia and

The Western

Force worth $800,000 last season but the deal fell over.

Rugby Australia withdrew the offer amid the turmoil from the Wallabies’ World Cup exit and coach Eddie Jones’ decision to walk out on the national team.

“Like a vast majority of the rugby public, we are apprehensive about the immediate state of the game,” his agent David Rawlings said at the time.

“You could reference the assessment made by the head coach [Jones] just days ago to justify that.

We have moved on and my client is focused on the upcoming pre-season with the Roosters.”

Suaalii’s mega deal to join the Wallabies on a three-year contract worth $4.5 million is believed to have contributed to Rugby Australia’s decision to pull the Crichton offer off the table.

Manu was linked to a shortterm deal with Japanese rugby before rejoining the Roosters, but now looks set to take up a lucrative multi-year deal in France.

Manu is ineligible to represent the All Blacks and it is unlikely at this stage that Crichton will be able to play for the Wallabies from France.

The 28-year-old has scored 34 tries in 154 NRL games for the Rabbitohs and Roosters and has played 11 Origins for NSW and five Tests for the Kangaroos to date.

Crichton was below his best last season.

But he is determined to end his time with the Roosters with a second premiership after his first in 2019, the year he joined the club.