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Few have backed the now 25-year-old as often, from first calling the Waratahs when Nawaqanitwase was a schoolboy being brushed for rep teams, to Manenti’s calculated gambles to draft him into Commonwealth Games and Olympics campaigns.
Manenti sees the structure of rugby league - more regular positioning for crossfield kicks or sweeping plays destined for a winger to finish each set - suiting Nawaqanitawase’s thoroughly unstructured approach down to the ground, even if he often leaves it.
“Obviously, with his aerial prowess, it is very easy to script and manufacture,” Manenti says.
“He’s always been an amazing offloader. When I first had him in sevens and picked him for the Commonwealth Games, I remember having to tell him, ‘mate, you just can’t offload every time, you know?’
“Really, what needed to happen was I needed to tell everyone else, ‘just be ready for the offload because this bloke can offload from bloody anywhere’.
“His athleticism has always been great. He never had a huge engine on him, obviously, because he’s a speed-power sort of guy. And again, in league, he may get that chance to conserve energy and position himself for a fifth tackle option, and what have you.”
Across the course of at least a dozen interviews at Roosters HQ this week, Nawaqanitawase spoke at length about his code-hop, Kangaroos tour hopes, formative years, and those still to come - though he has been careful for months not to drop anything of note on his next contract and which code it will be in.
So, to a few more numbers of note. Nawaqanitawase has dropped from a playing weight of 105kg in his last year at the Waratahs to 100kg at the Roosters.
His GPS data clocks him regularly running seven or eight kilometres a game in the NRL, a significant bump up on the “maybe 5.5 or 6 km I would run if I didn’t see much ball in rugby”.
The 20 or so minutes of extra ball-in-play time that league has on union has him more involved, averaging 20 touches and 15 carries into the defence a game.
Happy at home: Nawaqanitawase at Allianz Stadium.Credit: Edwina Pickles
The physical demands of the 13-man game, along with a steep defensive learning curve outside rookie of the year contender Rob Toia, have been Nawaqanitawase’s biggest hurdles.
He stresses that he’s clearing them thanks to Trent Robinson, Roosters teammates, and the coaching staff. And not least, Robinson’s theory that rugby league could really use a bit more of rugby union’s freedom with ball-in-hand.
Nawaqanitawase describes Robinson as “the best coach I’ve ever had” and was pretty much sold the first time he met him in June 2023, months before his star turn at that year’s Rugby World Cup and inking of a two-year, $900,000 Roosters deal.
“The attrition base in union isn’t as high as in league, and so therefore you can take risk and it’s not going to hurt you like it can hurt you in rugby league,” Robinson said after Nawaqanitawase’s show-stopping try against Canterbury in May.
“There’s got to be allowed that freedom in footy, and hopefully Mark can open up that for players and coaches to allow more freedom in the right areas [to] back yourself. Our game needs those players.”
“I love that from Robbo,” Nawaqanitawase says, “and I think it goes both ways. In league, you are getting the ball back after six tackles, so it does create an element of ‘you don’t necessarily have to try something crazy’.
“Or it can hurt you if it doesn’t come off, obviously, too. But in union there can be a turnover straight away - so you do test the boundaries a bit to get an advantage - whether that’s a chip and chase, offload, or something like that.”
Teammates marvel at Nawaqanitawase’s balance and poise under defensive pressure, along with the at times freakish ball-handling skills honed playing street games of basketball, rugby, and league as a kid.
Nawaqanitawase has dropped five kilos to keep up in rugby league.Credit: Josh Gould/Matina Inceptive
“The first time he really blew me away was that first try against Souths, because I think he delivers his freakiest stuff in games when the pressure is on,” Connor Watson says.
“That was an Israel Folau take, and that was what, in his first 10 minutes of first grade?”
Lote Tuqiri was the last Wallaby to walk the path Nawaqanitawase seems destined for, switching from union to league and being good enough to play for Australia (Tuqiri’s 2010 Kangaroos Tests came after a 2001 debut and then 67 Wallabies appearances).
“We’ve seen him make mistakes, but he hasn’t gone into his shell,” Tuqiri says.
Wingers often lead the NRL’s mistake tallies because high-ball contests and audacious touchdown attempts all count when they go wrong, but Nawaqanitawase certainly has errors in him as well.
In the midst of a fine hat-trick against South Sydney last Friday, he spilled one ball that resembled one of us dropping our phone for no apparent reason.
“Oh man, I’ve spent my whole career working out that balance,” Nawaqanitawase laughs. It’s true, the Waratahs dropped him more than once when his errors stacked up too high.
“He’s probably got more of a mature edge to him since he’s left rugby,” Tuqiri says.
’I remember having to tell him, ‘mate, you just can’t offload every time, you know?’
Rugby sevens coach John Manenti“I don’t know what the coaches were doing with him when he was in rugby union. He was probably thinking too much of ‘what do I need to do?’, rather than just playing what’s in front of you.
“You’ve got to tip your hat to the Roosters coaches and the faith they put in him to just let him play and play to his natural strengths.”
Never far away, though, is just where those natural strengths will take him.
Nawaqanitawase lists Folau, Jarryd Hayne, and Sonny Bill Williams as leaguies he loved watching growing up, before twigging that they all tried their hands at multiple codes.
Nawaqanitawase on the fly for the Wallabies.Credit: Getty Images
He is off contract as of November 1, and the Roosters are keen to upgrade and extend beyond his current $450,000 a year deal.
Will Rugby Australia really break the bank to bring him back for the 2027 World Cup?
Informed sources say there has been no approach from RA to Nawaqanitawase’s camp yet, and Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt framed the discussion this week around Nawaqanitawase’s desire to return, and the fact that other outside-back talent in the Wallabies had “stayed invested in rugby union”.
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If Nawaqanitawase can command $650-700,000 in the NRL, he may have to accept unders from RA to return. Though cashed-up after the Lions tour, Rugby Australia has made it known they’re not going to launch a spending spree.
There is already plenty of money already being spent on outside backs - Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s $1.6m salary is an eye-watering hard cost, and Tom Wright was re-signed on $600,000 this year.
RA know too that they will have to give rising talent Max Jorgensen another significant increase to his $500,000 deal when he also comes off contract at the end of 2026.
Roosters boss Nick Politis is a massive Jorgensen fan and usually gets what he wants, which makes previous rebuffs of the Tricolours interest all the more intriguing.
With the two entertainers’ futures overlapping, an overseas rugby deal could land Nawaqanitawase big money in 2027 and keep him eligible for the Wallabies come Cup time.
And in the meantime?
The fun and games roll on. Rugby league has wrapped its head around those tongue-twisting seven syllables. Chiefly because, setting aside code wars and cash, Nawaqanitawase is the best player to watch in either sport.
