Warriors not after Perenara
The Warriors aren’t chasing TJ Perenara, despite needing another hooker and the former All Black looking at NRL clubs to join.
It has been reported that the Roosters are to table a $130,000 offer to Perenara, 29, once his contract with Japanese team Red Hurricanes ends next month.
Perenara’s agent Warren Alcock has also approached other NRL clubs to see if they are interested in his client.
But even though the Warriors haven’t had a backup hooker since Karl Lawton left for the Sea Eagles last month and are actively seeking another No 9, assistant coach Justin Morgan said he was not on their radar.
‘‘We haven’t spoken about him at all,’’ Morgan said.
‘‘He’s a great, high quality player, whether or not he’d be suitable for us, I’m not sure, but he hasn’t been on the radar.
‘‘It’s great that he’s thinking about playing rugby league. He’s been playing at the top of his game in rugby union for a huge amount of time.
‘‘Like anything, if high quality players come on the market, whether they’re from league or union, no doubt our recruitment guys will be across it.
‘‘But I’m not sure we’d be wanting someone coming into the game in such an important position that hasn’t played that position in our game. I’m not sure that’s what we’re looking for, that’s more a question for Cameron George [CEO] or Peter O’sullivan [recruitment manager].
‘‘But it would be great to see him play rugby league. I’m an admirer of him.’’
While Perenara won’t end up at the Warriors, Morgan regards his potential switch as a victory for the 13-man code in New Zealand.
‘‘Normally you see the guys go from league to rugby union, we saw Sonny Bill Williams do it and Brad Thorn before that,’’ Morgan said. ‘‘Because of the high regard that rugby is held in, in New Zealand and the All Blacks arguably being the best sporting team in the world, you don’t generally see them come the other way.
‘‘It’s great to see them generate some interest in our game. I know there’s always a lot of cross education between the two codes, whether that’s amongst coaches or players, we both like watching the other code to see what we can learn.
‘‘It will be interesting to see if he did make the switch over and how easy it is.
‘‘But I’m a believer that elite rugby players, league or union, if they can get some of the technical aspects of their new game nailed down quickly, they’ll succeed.’’