Parramatta Eels outside back Waqa Blake is reportedly still considering a cross-code switch to rugby union as he is currently without an NRL contract.
Unlikely to be retained by the Eels due to salary cap issues, limited game-time in 2023 and the arrival of Morgan Harper from the Manly Sea Eagles, Blake’s immediate future is up in the air.
The AAP has reported that Blake has spoken to Super Rugby club the Western Force and is considering making the switch to rugby union.
It is understood that the 28-year-old has options in both Australia and overseas. However, the likeliest scenario will see him remain in Australia.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Blake reportedly offered his services to Rugby Australia after approaching them.
“I don’t know if Waqa Blake is necessarily on that hit-list, but he has been offered to Eddie Jones and rugby union,” Danny Weidler said on 100% Footy earlier this year in April.
“There’s been a lot of talk about his future at Parramatta, and Parramatta is looking for X-factor players with Clint Gutherson being moved to the centres because its centres aren’t strong.”
“Well, it appears that maybe Waqa Blake is reading that information, and there has been a reach-out by his management to Eddie Jones.”
Rugby Australia has been on a spree to secure NRL talent ahead of the British and Irish Lions tour in 2025 and the World Cup, to be played on home soil, in 2027.
Thus far, they have only secured Joseph Suaalii on a mega-deal, but there were reports that they were in talks to poach the likes of Cameron Murray, Will Penisini and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, among others.
At one point in time, Rugby Australia was said to be making a big-money play for Payne Haas – potentially as much as $1.6 million per year over three years to the end of the World Cup.
Blake grew up in Perth, where he played for the Joondalup Giants in the Perth Rugby League competition and then represented the Perth Pirates SG Ball team.
He would ultimately make the move to the Penrith Panthers at the end of 2012, working his way through the junior grades at the foot of the mountains, where he made his NRL debut in 2015, eventually shifting to the Eels in the middle of the 2019 season after playing 88 NRL games.
He has since played 76 NRL games for the Eels between 2019-23 and is a two-time Fijian international – playing both games in 2017.