Eddie Jones breaks silence on Joseph Suaalii leaving Roosters early; Tim Horan tells star to stay

Eddie Jones has finally spoken out about Joseph Suaalii’s controversial code switch after rumours pointed to the Roosters letting their star defect to rugby union a year early.

The 19-year-old agreed to join the rival code from 2025 under a three-year deal worth $1.6million a season, but last week it was reported that the Bondi club would consider cutting ties so he can join the 15-a-side game in 2024.

Reports said Suaalii’s poor form since announcing the bombshell defection to union was driving the possible early split, but that was shot down by Roosters owner Nick Politis and coach Trent Robinson.

Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan had a field day with the situation, asking if the Roosters were having ‘salary cap issues’, branding their treatment of the star ‘nothing short of horrible’ and saying they could re-work his contract to enable an early start in ’30 minutes’.

Jones said it would be ‘fantastic’ if Suaalii switched codes ahead of schedule, but he’s definitely not counting on it.

Jones (pictured with Wallabies stars at the MCG earlier this month) believes getting hold of Suaalii in 2024 instead of 2025 would be ‘fantastic’ – but he’s not counting on it

Suaalii has been in uncharacteristically poor form since his defection to rugby union was announced – and that continued in the Roosters’ heavy loss to Penrith on Friday (pictured)

‘I try to keep out of all the nonsense in the paper, but when you’re a good player, that comes with the territory and you’ve got to be able to cope,’ the Wallabies coach told Yahoo Sport Australia.

‘It doesn’t really concern me. I’m only concerned with the World Cup [in September]. 

‘Whatever happens to him post the World Cup … if he comes to rugby in 2024 that’s fantastic and we’ll see whether he can make the grade.’

His opinion isn’t shared by Wallabies legend Tim Horan, who urged Suaalii to see out his contract with the Roosters so he can keep learning from Robinson.

‘Let Joseph keep playing rugby league. They’re both very good games, rugby league and rugby union, and we’ll be ready for him when he comes,’ Horan said.

‘Trent’s a very astute coach and I like the way he talks. Joseph will come when he’s ready and that’ll be at the end of next year.’

Wallabies legend Tim Horan (pictured left, interviewing Jones) believes staying with the Bondi club is in Suaalii’s best interests so he can keep learning from coach Trent Robinson

The NRL star made headlines again last month when he was busted in a secret meeting with Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan (pictured) who called the 19-year-old’s treatment by the club ‘nothing short of horrible’

Suaalii’s run of uncharacteristically poor play continued when the Roosters were smashed by Penrith on Friday night in what skipper James Tedesco described as an ’embarrassing’ loss – but he was far from alone on that front.

His defection has been one of the stories of the season so far, thanks in no small part to McLennan, who was caught out in a secret meeting with the star in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on April 18 and has been milking the saga for media coverage.

Last week he boasted that Rugby Australia could afford to take Suaalii off the Roosters’ hands immediately and insinuated that the club was keen to shift him on in order to free up $700,000 under the salary cap.

Politis said there was no way the side would blame the teenager ‘for the way the team is performing’ with their run of losses surprising experts who had picked them to be premiership contenders thanks to their star-studded roster.