Why Eddie Jones should target QLD Maroons star

Brisbane Broncos forward Patrick Carrigan has been touted as a potential transfer target for Rugby Australia after another NRL star insisted his short-term future was with the 13-player game.

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones wants RA to sign some rugby league players, and this isn’t exactly a secret either.

Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year, Jones expressed his desire to bring players back to rugby after they were “initially lost” to the sport.

But one name has come up more than any other.

South Sydney Rabbitohs star Cameron Murray has been considered as a top transfer target for Eddie Jones and the Wallabies.

Jones told SEN’s Mornings with Matt White last month that Murray would “be pretty handy” as an inside centre in rugby - a sport that he has experience playing.

Legendary coach Jones also told Phil Gould on Stan Sport’s Coach Corner that again, Murray “would be pretty handy at 12.”

But Murray won’t be jumping codes for at least another three years.

“I’m contracted for three years, that’s where my focus is, and beyond that, the time will come to think about my future,” Murray told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I haven’t heard anything from Eddie. I haven’t heard from anyone, really.

“I’m not someone who will say, ‘I’m happy to win a few comps and then go somewhere else.’ This club means too much to me to just tick off a few comps and then leave.

“If the time comes and I’m off-contract, and I’m negotiating my future, I’ll think about it then.”

That raises the question: who’s next?

While Sydney Roosters flyer Joseph Suaalii has just re-signed with the NRL powerhouse, Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona has expressed his interest to jump codes in the past.

But SEN radio host Ben Davis has raised another representative stars name as a potential option for Jones’ Wallabies.

Patrick Carrigan, who was named the Maroon’s player of last year’s State of Origin series, played rugby union at high school in Brisbane.

“I think Patrick Carrigan, straight away,” Davis told SENQ Mornings.

“(He’s a) Terrace old boy, has played rugby.

“What position would suit him? No. 7? Would he be a flanker?

“He runs all day. He’s probably a bit too small, and he’s not a small man, but for a No. 8

“Maybe he can play in the centres as a 12.”