The Sydney Roosters are starting early proceedings to bring Wallabies and NSW Waratahs star Max Jorgensen to the NRL after the 2027 World Cup wraps up in the club’s latest recruitment move to target rugby union.
News Corp journalist Brent Read has been reporting that the Roosters have already spoken to Jorgensen about a switch, with the impending World Cup (to be hosted on Australian soil) about the only thing keeping him in the fifteen-man code. Once the World Cup is all wrapped up, the way will then be cleared for him to move over to rugby league.
This tracks with Jorgensen’s conversations with the Roosters in the past; The Sporting Base understands he previously spoke to Trent Robinson and the tricolours recruitment team in both 2022 and 2024, though it led to nothing.
Around the same time, the Roosters picked up rugby stars like Joey Manu and Mark Nawaqanitawase, both of whom were very clear superstars in the game. The latter even ended as the 2025 Ken Irvine Medallist before agreeing to return to rugby next year.
Sydney has very much liked their rugby-minded recruitment focus, especially with Nick Politis able to match any Rugby Australia cash offers quite closely. The only time that’s not really worked was with the Joseph Suaalii saga, and that was when Australia’s rugby outfit tabled a monster $5 million deal for just three years, with another two baked in as $4M options.
Rugby Australia has moved to sign Jorgensen for two Rugby World Cups – 2027 in Australia and 2031 in the U.S. – with a monster five-year deal offered to the young gun in October, but he hasn’t signed anything just yet.
Helping Sydney’s cause is the fact that Max’s father, Peter Jorgensen, played rugby league for Eastern Suburbs and Penrith. The 21-year-old, regarded as one of the biggest emerging talents in the fifteen-man code, has long discussed his desire to try his hand at the NRL; this Base writer thinks he would quite easily debut as a superstar fullback.
This writer has heard the same rugby-focused playbook will see the Roosters trying to welcome back stars like Manu, Nawaqanitawase, and Suaalii after the 2027 Rugby World Cup, though it would be unlikely they’d be able to sign all of them.
Should that be the case, there may be an NRL-sided signing frenzy around rugby in 2027.
