Only Eddie Jones knows if he was teasing or not.
The Wallabies head coach told Sky Sport’s The Breakdown on Sunday that Australian rugby had further league talent set to switch codes.
In March, Rugby Australia signed Joseph Suaalii from the NRL’s Sydney Roosters for a reported $1.5 million per year, starting at the end of the 2024 league season.
“Yeah, we've got about three or four that are ready to sign mate, big names," Jones said, with a grin.
"I can't tell you now (which ones). But no, I think it adds to the competitive tension... we need to get rugby back competing as a winter sport. And by signing a guy like Suaalii, it helps that. If we sign two or three others, it'll help that and it'll also show kids.
"A lot of the kids now go to a big private school and by the time they're 15, if they're good, if they're good readers of the game, they catch and pass – they've got a Rabbitohs contract or a Roosters contract in front of them.
"And the inevitability of that is hard to stop because we're competing against 17 clubs that all have the recruitment budget of Rugby Australia.
"So we've got to get some of those players back, and ideally we keep more of them at a young age, which we have to do, but then to get a few of them back after they've done a apprenticeship in rugby league is fantastic."
Jones last week used former NRL great Andrew Johns to work with the Wallabies halves ahead of next month's test against South Africa.
"We've lost our way a little bit there and Andrew Johns - I've never seen a guy who understands that part of the game better than him. Just the little tricks he does with his eyes and his feet. We've got a young guy, Carter Gordon, who's only played 15 Super Rugby games. So to have 35 minutes with the maestro, it's going to be invaluable for his career," Jones said.
