Dual international says Nawaqanitawase’s NRL stint proves Wallabies aren’t dead

The Wallabies’ Bledisloe Cup drought might have stretched to 24 years, but dual international Michael O’Connor believes Mark Nawaqanitawase’s extraordinary two-year stint in rugby league proves the 15-a-side game in Australia still produces world-class talent.

“You look at his ability and what he’s been able to do; to me, it reflects really well on rugby that we have a player like him come over to rugby league, and there are quite a lot of sceptics in rugby league around rugby union, and to see how he’s dominated the competition, I think it’s a good thing,” O’Connor said.

Nawaqanitawase’s decision to sign with the Roosters following the Wallabies’ dreaded 2023 World Cup campaign caused a stir in Australian rugby.

Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh was shocked the talented back, who had only broken into the Wallabies in late 2022, was jumping codes just 12 months later.

But the athletic winger, who scored twice on his Super Rugby debut in 2020 and also bagged a double in his third Test against Wales in Cardiff, never looked back.

Nawaqanitawase made an immediate impression in league, soaring high against the South Sydney Rabbitohs to score on debut.

He then topped the tryscorers list in 2025 (with 24) to earn Kangaroos selection for the Ashes in England, before bowing out with an Origin series win and an NRL title, where he scored twice in the Roosters’ 19-18 win, to cap an incredible 26 months.

O’Connor, who played 13 Tests for the Wallabies before scoring 87 tries across 10 seasons of rugby league for St George and Manly, said he wasn’t shocked Nawaqanitawase had scaled such heights, having first seen him during his short second stint as a selector with the Wallabies in 2019.

But he added that the player returning to rugby, where he will join Japanese League One club Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights, was better than the one who left rugby in mid-2024 following the Paris Olympics.

“The Roosters certainly did their homework when they signed him,” O’Connor said.

“He’s a real athlete, and that was apparent even when I was a selector.

“He made the Australian under-20 squad that went over to Argentina in 2019. He was scoring tries, he had a great instinct for the game and where the ball was, and his visual awareness was through the roof. But I think he’s just grown into a man, and he’s a far more complete footballer now.

“I think his move to rugby league has been a good thing; it certainly has brushed up some areas of his game … he’ll go back up with a lot of confidence.”

Whether the Wallabies bear the fruit of his two years in rugby league remains to be seen.