Rugby Australia has withdrawn its bumper $1.6 million deal for Sydney Roosters star Angus Crichton less than two weeks after tabling the offer.
Crichton’s manager, David Rawlings, has told the Sydney Morning Herald that the offer for the 2024 and 2025 seasons had been rescinded.
The rugby deal would’ve seen Crichton play for the Western Force in the 2024 and 2025 Super Rugby seasons.
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The bumper offer to Crichton, who is set to earn $675,000 on his Roosters deal for 2024, came just days after the Wallabies were thrashed by Wales at the Rugby World Cup in France.
Rugby Australia has come under fire in recent weeks following the Wallabies’ sub-par World Cup performances, with the team losing two of its four group stage matches.
Crichton, a schoolboy rugby standout, has long been linked with a return to the code following a successful seven-year career in the NRL.
The 27-year-old was a part of Rugby Australia’s raid on the NRL and the Roosters in particular, having already signed Crichton’s club teammate Joseph Suaalii on a lucrative deal.
Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan also went public with his desire to bring Roosters coach Trent Robinson into the sport.
”I rate Trent, but I wonder how he can coach in an environment like that when there is such a ruthless attitude towards young players,” he said in May.
“Trent would do well as a rugby coach.”