Rugby Australia are reportedly set to relaunch their pursuit of Angus Crichton if he is not re-signed by the Sydney Roosters before November 1.
Crichton was a rugby union player during his school days, and played for both the New South Wales and Australian Schoolboys, but never played the game at a professional level.
Instead, he made the jump to the NRL with the Sydney Roosters in the lower grades, before moving to the South Sydney Rabbitohs where he made his debut in 2016.
After a three-year stint there, he made his way back to the Roosters, and while he has had some bumps on the road, he has been a permanent fixture of the first-grade squad at Bondi under Trent Robinson since 2019.
While it was rumoured at one point he wasn't going to be re-signed by the Roosters on what is now his current contract running to the end of 2026, his form was good enough that it indeed did happen.
Already touted as a potential first up signing for the Perth Bears, and likely to attract interest from a host of other clubs, News Corp are reporting that Crichton is under attack again from Rugby Australia, who will make a play for him if he arrives at November 1 without a contract from the Roosters.
It's unclear at this stage the appeitite of the tri-colours to sign the New South Wales State of Origin and Australian Kangaroos representative.
The club are in the midst of a rebuild of their own, promoting a host of young talent while looking to bring in experienced faces, like they have with Reece Robson from the North Queensland Cowboys, and are likely to do with Daly Cherry-Evans from the Manly Sea Eagles.
Despite that, the Roosters still haven't gone close to using all the salary cap they saved at the start of this year with a host of big names leaving the club, or since with the departures of Brandon Smith to the Rabbitohs, and the rumoured exit of Dominic Young back to the Newcastle Knights in a couple of weeks.
Given money won't be the issue for the Roosters, the club will likely attempt to lock Crichton down before November 1, but there is no guarantee, with Crichton likely to be among the leaders of the next free agency class, and the looming promise of playing in a Rugby World Cup hosted in Australia during 2027 if he does jump codes at the end of his current deal.
