{"id":800761,"date":"2026-07-15T00:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800761\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T00:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:25:10","slug":"mark-nawaqanitawase-makes-call-on-kangaroos-invite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800761\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Nawaqanitawase makes call on Kangaroos invite"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cross-code and Sydney Roosters<\/a> talent Mark Nawaqanitawase<\/a> has decided what he wants to do once this NRL<\/a> season finishes.<\/p>\n

It was reported earlier this week that Nawaqanitawase was set to be offered a deal to extend his stay to play in the 2026 Rugby League World Cup<\/a> for Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His contract with the Roosters and NRL<\/a> finishes on October 31 before the 2027 cycle kicks in on November 1.<\/p>\n

The World Cup runs from mid-October to mid-November, which would eliminate the opportunity to tour with the Wallabies in England<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the NSW Blues<\/a> series-winning winger has decided he will not play for either the Kangaroos or the Wallabies, and instead, head to Japan for the Saitama Wild Knights, according to The Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n

The rugby club he signed a $3 million deal with expects the NRL<\/a> star to arrive on November 1 as they prepare for trial matches in mid-November.<\/p>\n

Despite international rugby union allowing players to play Test Matches via a release window, Nawaqanitawase wants to adjust to Japan and settle at his new club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kevin Walters<\/a> has publicly said he wants the Roosters player to return to the Kangaroos side for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

The former Broncos coach, who became the Kangaroos coach last year, selected Nawaqanitawase in the Ashes series against England<\/a>, winning all three games.<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase and his camp do not want to upset the Knights in Japan ahead of pre-season and preparation leading into the League One competition kick-off, which is set for early December.<\/p>\n

The demand on Nawaqanitawase in this NRL<\/a> season, with the injury, State of Origin<\/a>, and finals in September, is also why he is set on making the move to Japan not long after the Roosters’ season ends.<\/p>\n

It is expected that the 25-year-old will play for the Wallabies in 2027, as the Rugby Union World Cup takes place from October 1 to November 13 next year.<\/p>\n

There is potential for the Kangaroos winger to return to the NRL<\/a> in the future, as the Roosters are keen on bringing him back.<\/p>\n

The tri-colours have tried to bring back Joseph Manu<\/a> and Joseph Suaalii<\/a> to the club; however, that is unlikely at the moment.<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase’s formal decision on this matter will be made this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cross-code and Sydney Roosters talent Mark Nawaqanitawase has decided what he wants to do once this NRL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-800761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800761","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=800761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}