'Contemplate and consider it': NRL star Cameron Murray refuses to rule out code switch

It’s no secret that Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is eager to lure some world class talent to the 15-player game from rugby league.

Veteran coach Jones has been outspoken with his desire to bring back players “who were initially lost from rugby” to the sport, as he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Every year, it seems like countless schoolboy talents are lost to the rival code, before going on to star at both NRL and representative level in rugby league.

South Sydney Rabbitohs captain Cameron Murray is one of the many who got away.

The New South Wales Blues and Australian lock played rugby union at high school, before following in his fathers footsteps by playing for South Sydney.

But Jones wants him back in rugby union.

“Of the current players, there’s a rugby player called Cameron Murray who’d be pretty handy,” Jones told SEN’s Mornings with Matt White on Monday.

“He’d be a fantastic 12 in rugby.”

Rabbitohs captain Murray has added fuel to the fire following Jones’ comments, refusing to rule out a code switch in the future.

While the 25-year-old is intending to see out his three-year deal with the famous NRL club, Murray said he would “contemplate and consider” a career change “long-term.”

“Yeah, I contemplate and consider it long-term, but that’s as much energy as I give it, so it’s all hypotheticals right now,” Murray told Nine News.

“As far as I’m concerned, my loyalty is with my next three years at the club while I’m contracted here, and that’s where my focus and energy is.”

Melbourne Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona has also expressed his interest in returning to rugby union sometime in the future.

Asofa-Solomona, who was a schoolboy sensation with Wellington College, is coming off a career-best season with the Storm.

But the 26-year-old has opened up about his desire to return to union “at some stage.”

“Obviously I’ve been at the Storm for such a long time,” Asofa-Solomona told The Herald and The Age.

“Coming from a rugby union background, I’ve always been enticed to go back to rugby at some stage.

“Just seeing the talent we have got at the Storm and the future they have, the Storm is in good hands even if I leave.

“I’m not too sure what I want to do, I change my mind every day.

“It’s hard to say (if I’d join the Wallabies). I’d be silly not to consider all my options.”

Jones famously led the Wallabies to a World Cup final on home soil in 2003 with a few rugby league players in his squad.

Dual internationals Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri and Mat Rogers all played starring roles in the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign.