{"id":426867,"date":"2026-01-21T03:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/426867\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T03:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:32:17","slug":"angus-crichton-set-to-leave-sydney-roosters-and-nrl-to-chase-wallabies-world-cup-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/426867\/","title":{"rendered":"Angus Crichton set to leave Sydney Roosters and NRL to chase Wallabies World Cup dream"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Angus Crichton is set to leave the Sydney Roosters after the NRL season for rugby union and a chance to play at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">It is understood Crichton has signed a one-year deal with Rugby Australia that includes an option for a second season in 2028.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The 29-year-old is also thought to be open to fielding overseas rugby offers beyond his RA deal, which could mean a move to Europe or Japan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Crichton is set to play for Super Rugby Pacific franchise the NSW Waratahs and would be in the frame for Wallabies selection at the home World Cup next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Crichton, once a schoolboy rugby star, is in the last season of his Roosters contract and is set to follow teammate Mark Nawaqanitawase out the door to the 15-man code.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Rugby Australia is expected to confirm Crichton&#8217;s signing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The 29-year-old has been linked with moves to rugby union throughout his 198-game NRL career, notably when last coming out of contract in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Crichton ultimately signed a new two-year deal with the Tricolours but had remained open to a code switch in future.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Angus Crichton scores a try\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9c36de1dfd28edec45694b6e37588edc.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Angus Crichton is hoping to play for the Wallabies at the 2027 World Cup. (Getty Images: Paul Harding)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Crichton will reunite with former Roosters teammate Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii at the Tahs after the young gun&#8217;s highly-publicised move in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">A graduate of famous rugby school Scots College, Crichton won the 2019 premiership in his first NRL season at the Roosters, having debuted with rivals South Sydney three seasons earlier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">At his peak, Crichton has been one of the NRL&#8217;s most damaging second-rowers, enjoying a particularly strong 2024 that landed him back in the NSW State of Origin team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Crichton won both the Brad Fittler Medal as the Blues&#8217; best player and the Dally M second-rower of the year award that season, his first full campaign after a mental health break delayed his start to 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Daly Cherry-Evans, Siua Wong and Daniel Tupou are other high-profile Roosters players off contract after this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">ABC\/AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Angus Crichton is set to leave the Sydney Roosters after the NRL season for rugby union and a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[224047,64,63,761,762,158,159,2633,85,1080,2500,21418],"class_list":["post-426867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-angus-chrichton","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-rugby-league","tag-rugby-union","tag-sports","tag-sydney-roosters","tag-wallabies","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}