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Angus Crichton has a new baby, a new barbershop and a new lease on life after fearing he had ended his time in the NRL with the Roosters by playing for several weeks with a stress fracture in his foot.
Crichton is rugby union-bound at the end of 2026 after signing a two-year Rugby Australia deal with an eye to next year’s home World Cup.
Injured Roosters star Angus Crichton in Darlinghurst, where he will soon open his second barber shop, complete with a tattoo parlour downstairs.Wolter Peeters
But a finals swansong with the Tricolours remains in play, following cross-code advice from AFL stars Jesse Hogan and Will Day and what turned out to be season-saving orthopaedic surgery after initial scans missed the small crack in his right foot.
The NSW Origin and Kangaroos regular is now on crutches and healing well after playing games earlier this year with a navicular stress fracture – an injury that can often reoccur, and be notoriously difficult to heal, due to poor blood flow.
“I was so nervous when I was reading and hearing about how serious the injury is,” Crichton said. “I’d be devastated if I don’t get to play another game for the Roosters.
“But Andrew Wines, the surgeon who did the operation on me, is quite confident I’ll be back at the end of the year, and I’m all in on my rehab. I’m praying I’ll be there at the end of the season.
Angus Crichton is targeting a finals swansong for the Roosters.Getty Images
“A good mate of mine, Jesse Hogan at the GWS Giants, had the same injury at the start of his career and he rested it, didn’t get the surgery and it became a long process for him. It happens a bit in AFL and [Hawthorn midfielder] Will Day has had his issues with it, too.
“I spoke to him and Jesse, and they both had four months out of the game and then recurring issues, too. But the idea is by getting the surgery straight away, I can sort it once and for all.”
Meantime, Crichton is working out how to literally juggle his three-month-old son Sullivan while holding himself up on crutches and making himself useful to wife Chloe.
He’s found his burgeoning business ventures easier going so far, with his second AC Flo barbershop to combine with Bobby’s Tattoos parlour as a one-stop, ink-and-trims shop.
Crichton’s second barbershop – AC Flo x Bobby’s Tattoo – will open on Oxford Street.Wolter Peeters
With Crichton on deck more than usual since being sidelined, the Oxford Street venue in Darlinghurst is poised to open its doors imminently.
The 10-week recovery plotted out by Wines and Roosters medical staff will ideally have Crichton available again for the NRL finals in mid-September, and the Roosters are up to their eyeballs in this year’s premiership race.
That timeframe would also have Crichton in line for the Wallabies’ spring tour in November. When he signed with RA in January, the tour was flagged by chief executive Phil Waugh as an option for Crichton to taste once more the code he last played at Australian schoolboys level more than a decade ago.
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But just as he has all year, Crichton is reluctant to offer much on his looming code switch out of respect to the Roosters, coach Trent Robinson and club boss Nick Politis.
“I think we’ve got the team to do something special this year, and there’s a few of us who are in our last season at the club,” Crichton said.
“It’ll be a new-look Roosters team next year, but this year we’ve got strike all over the park and I think we’re getting better and better every week.
“I’m spewing I’m not playing right now, but the best thing I can do is dive into my rehab and ideally go all the way with the Chooks.
“I’ll be in full health when I go across [to rugby], but I’m still contracted here, doing all my rehab with the Roosters and made a bit of a conscious decision to keep the discussions about my recovery just with the Roosters.
“I’m 30 now, I’ve got plenty of footy left in me and the plan is to come back flying for the Chooks, so I don’t miss a beat”.
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Dan Walsh is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners