{"id":920543,"date":"2026-10-08T11:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/920543\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T11:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:02:17","slug":"straight-to-japan-or-tour-with-the-wallabies-kiss-addresses-marky-marks-next-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/920543\/","title":{"rendered":"Straight to Japan or tour with the Wallabies? Kiss addresses Marky Mark\u2019s next move"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Iain<\/p>\n

October 8, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n

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Australia coach Les Kiss hasn\u2019t closed the door on Mark Nawaqanitawase potentially joining the Wallabies on their November tour of Great Britain, saying he will discuss plans with the superstar winger after the Roosters\u2019 premiership celebrations die down.<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase finished his 26-month stint in the NRL on Sunday by scoring two tries in the Roosters\u2019 grand final victory over Newcastle<\/a>, capping a remarkable cross-code switch that also saw the 26-year-old play for NSW and Australia.<\/p>\n

The 11-cap Wallaby is next month starting a two-year contract with Japanese rugby club Panasonic Saitama Wild Knights, where he will earn $1.5 million a season.<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase is eligible for Wallabies selection, given the month of November is a mandated international release window under World Rugby regulations.<\/p>\n

The dual international has indicated he may take a break<\/a>, however, and use November to move to Kumagaya and join the Wild Knights in camp, ahead of the League One season starting on December 12.<\/p>\n

Informed sources not authorised to comment publicly say Nawaqanitawase is keen to be respectful to his new club, but it\u2019s unclear if his position could change if Panasonic give approval for the try-scoring flyer to join the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Nawaqanitawase poses for a photograph with the NRL trophy.George Chan<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Wallabies team announcement in Auckland on Thursday, ahead of the Bledisloe Cup match at Eden Park on Saturday<\/a>, Kiss said he was stoked for Nawaqanitawase to win an NRL title, and he expected he would talk to him soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t heard back from him yet, but we\u2019ll see,\u201d Kiss said, while jokingly checking his phone. \u201cThat space will be filled. I\u2019ve just let it settle for this week, we\u2019ll have some conversations and see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase has been lauded for his freakish skills in the NRL, but Kiss said last week he and fellow Rooster Angus Crichton, who is joining the Waratahs next year, would have to earn their spots in the team<\/a>. The Wallabies have a back three of Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Tom Wright.<\/p>\n

Given the Wallabies\u2019 Anzac Day clash with New Zealand falls outside World Rugby\u2019s Regulation 9 window, Nawaqanitawase would not get a chance to play Test rugby again until July if he didn\u2019t go on the spring tour. The Wallabies\u2019 World Cup squad would likely be named at the end of August.<\/p>\n

Asked if he would like to take Nawaqanitawase on tour, to have him back with the group before July, Kiss said: \u201cI won\u2019t know (more) until I talk to him, really. I\u2019ve had only one chat to him before this, in the early part of the season and I said I\u2019d leave him alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did text him in the Origin to say \u2018don\u2019t play well\u2019 against Queensland, yeah, I\u2019ve had no contact. I\u2019ve really kept a clear mind on that part. He\u2019s obviously a flavour of the moment, for sure, but I\u2019m focused on our boys this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DepartingDeparting Roosters winger Mark Nawaqanitawase arrives at the Fan Day Celebration.George Chan<\/p>\n

Kiss said he was happy for the success of the Roosters and their rugby connections, which also included inbound Waratahs coach Michael Cheika<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"All<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really pleased \u2026 for all of them. Cheik as well and Angus \u2026 well done. It\u2019s cool,\u201d Kiss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Trent (Robinson), he\u2019s a superb coach. He held that club together, led them well, and, it was a good victory. It was probably tougher than they thought, but it was nice to see some of those guys that we know well get that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Informed sources say Crichton is long-odds to make the Wallabies\u2019 tour, or the Australia A tour of the US, after pushing through a foot injury in the last few weeks of the Roosters\u2019 finals campaign.<\/p>\n

He is more likely to undergo rehabilitation in a pre-season campaign with Cheika and the Waratahs.<\/p>\n

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Close\"IainIain Payten<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 8, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-920543","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\/920543","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=920543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}