{"id":866599,"date":"2026-08-24T11:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T11:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866599\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T11:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T11:08:12","slug":"all-blacks-star-linked-with-surprise-nrl-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866599\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks star linked with surprise NRL move"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand<\/a> All Blacks captain Ardie Savea has been linked with a sensational code switch to the NRL<\/a> where he could join the PNG Chiefs<\/a> for their inaugural season.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old is one of the greats in the sport of rugby union, but has never tried his hand in rugby league.<\/p>\n

While he is currently focused on New Zealand’s build to the World Cup in the 15-man game that will be held in Australia<\/a> next year, reports have emerged from multiple outlets on Monday that he could be a target for the Chiefs as they build for their inaugural season.<\/p>\n

Savea was the 2023 World Rugby player of the year and is understood to be on the Chiefs wish list, although his appetite for a chance is unclear at this stage.<\/p>\n

Related Coverage<\/p>\n

Savea would also be 34 years of age by the time he joins the Chiefs, raising further questions around the validity of the move.<\/p>\n

He wouldn’t be the first rugby union start to make the jump across codes in recent years, although the vast majority have been outside backs, led by Mark Nawaqanitawase<\/a> and Joseph Suaalii<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A number eight or flanker in rugby union, Savea stands at 184 centimetres and 105 kilograms, having made his professional debut back in 2012 with Wellington.<\/p>\n

He then played for the Hurricanes in the Super Rugby competition from 2013 to 2023, while he has also had a stint in Japan with the Kobe Steelers, and has more recently played in the Pacific region for Moana Pasifika.<\/p>\n

All up, he has made over 200 appearances in club rugby, while he has also played 111 Tests for the All Blacks, and another 6 games for the national Sevens team.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks skipper hasn’t claimed a World Cup crown, but finished third in 2019, and lost the final in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs have made plenty of signings for their opening season, locking up Joseph Manu<\/a>, Brian To’o<\/a>, Alex Johnston<\/a>, Jarome Luai<\/a> and Zac Lomax<\/a> for their backline, but are short on forwards at this stage with only English prop Matty Lees<\/a> and utility Connor Watson<\/a> secured.<\/p>\n

The reports around Savea come as the club also reportedly lock into negotiations with Canberra Raiders<\/a> second-rower Hudson Young<\/a> ahead of November 1 when they will be able to freely negotiate with all players in the NRL<\/a> off-contract at the end of 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand All Blacks captain Ardie Savea has been linked with a sensational code switch to the NRL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-866599","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\/866599","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=866599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}