TJ Perenara believes his rugby league move needs to happen
sooner rather than later if he is ever to make the code switch.
Perenara,
who is currently plying his trade for the Red Hurricanes in Japan, is
off-contract at the end of the season and is reportedly in discussions with NRL
side Sydney Roosters over switching codes.
Undecided over next move
The
29-year-old scrum-half is currently undecided over his next move, but
acknowledges if he decides to stay in New Zealand it will mean the end of his
rugby league hopes.
“No
decision yet. There’s a few different scenarios on the table but in all
honesty, my wife and I haven’t come to a decision,” Perenara told NZME.
“I
would be doing the club and the boys that I work hard with an injustice by
focusing on anything else besides our games coming up. I wanted to make a
conscious decision to focus on the games at hand and when there’s some time to
put some thought into some other things, do that in due time.
“If
I don’t make a decision and be part of an organisation this year, I don’t know
if I will do it again. It will be a commitment one way or the other. Committing
to New Zealand Rugby, to home and the [Wellington] Hurricanes will take league
off the table for my career.”
Perenara
has been focusing heavily on the hooker position in rugby league and has
already spoken to a number of players to get their advice.
“I’ve
reached out to some boys with suggestions on who to watch,” he said. “Who
people think are the better nines in the game, who play the game well, what
people expect from nines in the game. Just trying to get some dialogue into
what firstly what other nines think other nines are good at and where I can
work on my game before making a decision.
“And
secondly what halves want from their nines. What do they expect from their
nines in passing, kicking, running the game and organising. Just trying to get
that knowledge to see where I could best fit.”
Earlier
in April, Hurricanes CEO Avan Lee told NZME they were hopeful they could
convince Perenara to return.
“I
had a long Zoom call with him and his manager and spoke about the Hurricanes
and the All Blacks. We didn’t talk about rugby league, just talked about the
Hurricanes and obviously we’re keen to get him home. He said he’s keen to be a
Hurricane and be an All Black again,” said Lee.
“He’s got choices and if there is truth to the Roosters rumour
then obviously he’s more than able to have that conversation, so we only
control our conversation with TJ and we know how much he loves the Hurricanes.
“If he comes
home and is playing anywhere near what he normally would then he’ll be in the
All Blacks as well at Rugby World Cup 2023.”
https://www.planetrugby.com/all-black-tj-perenara-undecided-over-possible-rugby-league-move/
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