Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii will never return to league after move to Wallabies, mentor says [Video]

“I prefer him to be playing league because I think rugby is not the sport that league is. I remember when he was going to go to rugby as a youngster sitting at his home with [then Rabbitohs football manager] Mark Ellison and doing a deal for him as a 17-year-old for three years for $1.5 million with the Rabbitohs.

“Before he could sign it, the agent Isaac Moses, who I referred to as ‘The Mess Moses’, made a mess of what we were trying to do and instead put together a five-year deal with all these [get-out] clauses in it [in Suaalii’s favour] that [then Souths coach] Wayne Bennett didn’t want a bar of.

“The Roosters ended up doing a deal with [Suaalii in 2020]. I reckon even [Roosters chairman] Nick Politis would now agree with my view …