Jorgensen says NRL was never an option after historic rugby deal confirmed

1 month ago 4

Max Jorgensen has revealed he didn’t speak with Roosters coach Trent Robinson about a switch to the NRL, nor even explore options outside Australian rugby, after his “special” new five-year contract with Rugby Australia and the Waratahs was confirmed on Friday.

As revealed by this masthead on Wednesday, RA announced Jorgensen will stay in rugby until 2031 on a multi-million deal, which will also allow him to pursue sabbatical seasons overseas in 2028 and 2030.

After being pursued by the Roosters twice before, the NRL club were interested in the 21-year-old Wallabies star but Jorgensen said his heart remained in rugby, and he instructed his agent Clinton Schifcofske to get a deal done for him to stay with the Wallabies and Waratahs.

When RA offered a rare five-year deal, which will cover the next two Rugby World Cups, Jorgensen said he was chuffed and happy to extend his contract that far.

“I said to my manager, I want to stay. This is where my heart lies and this is where I want to play,” Jorgensen said on Friday. “It was mainly that I was loving it here and being a part of the Tahs and the Wallabies and I really wanted to stay. I didn’t really have any interest going anywhere else.

“We weren’t keeping that a secret or anything. That was pretty much the conversation that were happening over the last six or so months since [negotiations] started, that I wanted to stay.”

Max Jorgensen posing for photos in his home neighbourhood of Balmain.

Asked if he’d met with the Roosters and Robinson, as he’d done in 2024 when coming off contract, Jorgensen said: “Not this time. I’ve obviously met with the Roosters before. That’s no secret. But yeah, not this time.”

On whether R360 had reached out: “I’m pretty sure they tried to speak to everyone, but we never really went too deep into that.”

Jorgensen’s deal is equal to the longest ever offered by Rugby Australia, with Michael Hooper and Lote Tuqiri the only others to have signed five-year deals.

The 20-cap Wallaby said he jumped at the deal, which is believed to be worth $900,000 a season, despite being a long one and keeping him off the market for a considerable time.

Max Jorgensen poses with members of his junior rugby club, the Balmain Wolves.

“It wasn’t my idea, but it was good. It was special, you know, to be wanted, you could say,” Jorgensen said.

“Obviously I talked to my family a lot, I talked to my managers. It was just the right time for me to sign that type of deal. I’m still young, I’m only 21 still, so by the time that ends anyway, I’m only 27 or something like that. So hopefully I still have some years left in my career after that.

“But as I said, it’s a special deal. And to be able to have the opportunity to stay with the Wallabies and the Tahs for five years, you can’t really say no.”

Jorgensen said he had also sought the counsel of star teammate Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.

“We are good mates so we can sort of share that stuff with each other, and it’s also good to have a different perspective on things,” he said. “It’s not only getting your family and your manager’s perspectives, but sometimes it’s good to get an outside perspective that’s got no bias towards you or anything like that.”

Max Jorgensen dives over to score a try during the third Test against the British and Irish Lions.

Jorgensen’s deal will allow him to experience overseas rugby, and importantly for RA, potentially earn a significant sum in stints in Japan or Europe, which would see him miss Super Rugby.

Jorgensen said he would also be open to a crack at making the 2028 LA Olympics in sevens.

“Everyone grows up going, ‘Oh, going to the Olympics is really special and really cool’,” he said. “But that might not even ever happen. So it’s more a conversation for the future, I think.”

Jorgensen said a future switch to the NRL “is always on the table” but whether it will ever happen is now a fair question, given he’ll be 26 when next off contract.

Being part of a rebuild with the Wallabies during that time “is really cool”, Jorgensen said.

“That’s obviously the end goal for us. You want to be that number one team in the world that no one can beat,” he said.

“And everyone’s scared to go up against. So to be able to be part of sort of that rebuild process where you have the chance to just climb those ranks and then end up being the best in the world, that’s so special.”