{"id":899761,"date":"2026-09-21T06:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T06:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899761\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T06:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T06:22:16","slug":"emotional-code-hopper-mark-nawaqanitawase-commits-to-roosters-for-any-future-nrl-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899761\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotional code-hopper Mark Nawaqanitawase commits to Roosters for any future NRL comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

An emotional Mark Nawaqanitawase has ruled out ever playing for any other NRL<\/a> club than the Sydney Roosters<\/a> as he eyes the ultimate farewell to rugby league.<\/p>\n

Returning to rugby at season\u2019s end, Nawaqanitawase will remain among the hottest free agents in either code whenever he comes off contract as he routinely floats between the 13 and 15-man game.<\/p>\n

But the dual international is adamant he will only ever consider donning the Tricolours after detailing how much of a wrench it is to be leaving the Roosters after a spectacular two-year stint in the NRL.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was to ever come back, it\u2019d only be for the Roosters,\u201d Nawaqanitawase, who is of Fijian and Italian heritage, said on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been above and beyond what I thought it would go like, so I\u2019m enjoying it every week and hopefully I can continue to enjoy it for the next two.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the best decision ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s scoring the most freakish of tries or setting them up, the superstar winger has proven a one-man highlights reel for the Roosters and almost choked up when talking about moving on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit sad sometimes, like just thinking about leaving everyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m just trying to enjoy it while I can. I don\u2019t try to get too caught up in it. Obviously I definitely do reminisce on some of the good times and feel that, but for the most part just enjoy it every day I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NawaqanitawaseNawaqanitawase has enjoyed his time with the Roosters and plans to bow out in the grand final. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

Headed for the Saitama Wild Knights in Japan\u2019s League One competition, Nawaqanitawase also shut down talk of potentially playing at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.<\/p>\n

The happily single 26-year-old will be living alone for the first time and says learning to adapt to domestic duties is a priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just having a bit of time off before I leave the country, spending time with my family, my friends and then having that respect just to start up a new club and find my feet there,\u201d Nawaqanitawase said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be my first time living out of home, so I just get my head around cooking for myself, working out how things work around the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not that bad but I actually know nothing about just getting an idea of how it is to live by myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s going to take a few weeks and if I\u2019m good if I\u2019m going in and out, it could disrupt things.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Olympic Games and State of Origin to Tests for the Wallabies and Kangaroos, the code-hopping ace has already played on the grandest stages in league and union, but reckons featuring in an NRL grand final would match anything he\u2019s ever done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be great, obviously,\u201d he said ahead of Friday night\u2019s preliminary final against the Dolphins in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019d have to be up there with one of those big events: a World Cup, Origin, so I want to do everything I can this week to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NRL investigating fans who pelted finals referees with rubbish<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Injured boy taken to hospital after \u2018sour\u2019 finish to MCG epic<\/p>\n

4 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An emotional Mark Nawaqanitawase has ruled out ever playing for any other NRL club than the Sydney Roosters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,1625,158,760,2633,588,85,1080,438546],"class_list":["post-899761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-lifestyle","tag-nrl","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-union","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-sydney-roosters","tag-your-feed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899761","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=899761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}