Rugby Code Hoppers

Teen phenom Joseph Sualii is heading home, after starting his professional sporting career in the NRL, he is making the switch to rugby union, the sport he grew up with, in 2025.

Admittedly the move itself isn’t actually that entertaining, but the outcry from certain high profile figures involved in NRL clubs, acting like scorned teenagers that have just been dumped has provided a funny side plot over the last few days.

You know the one, he claims not to watch rugby union or care about the game, but has been caught tweeting about how entertaining schoolboy games are and how the Wallabies were robbed by that French referee in the Bledisloe last year (which they were).

Great effort by Wallabies. Beaten after the final siren. A terrible referee call at the death gave All Blacks a shot at victory. They capitalized. Heartbreak for Wallaby fans
— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) September 15, 2022

Oh and he’s happy to chat to new Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.

You would think that Sualii was the first player to ever make the switch between the two rugby codes but, he’s far from alone.

There’s a long history of players going both ways, plenty of them have backgrounds in junior league and union and have dug into the archives to find just some of the players who have played both codes professionally.

It’s a well established and very busy two-way street when you do a bit of research.

Dally Messenger

Rugby Union > Rugby League

One of the first players to cross codes was in fact, the most famous player in the early days of league.

Dally Messenger’s sporting career began playing for Easts in the Sydney rugby union competition and made his debut for the Wallabies in 1907.

Later that year Messenger joined up with the rival code, where he went on to make his name in the local game and he seemed to do quite well.

After all, they named the Dally M award after him.

Rugby League: "We can't be a breeding ground for rugby union to poach our players"
Also Rugby League : names its best and fairest award after Dally Messenger, who league poached from union…
— Matty Horan (@mattyhoran) March 30, 2023

However there is a bizarre part of his early career in league where he represented both New South Wales and Queensland in 1908 and also turned out for both Australia and New Zealand…

That may have generated more headlines than his code switch in 2023.

Doug McLean Sr & Jr

Rugby Union > Rugby League

Doug McLean Sr was another one of the players that made the switch to the newly formed league game in 1908 after three Wallabies appearances in 1904 and 1905.

Three of his sons were all Wallabies representatives with Doug Jr also making the switch from union to league in the 1930’s after 10 Wallabies appearances.

Ray Price

Rugby Union > Rugby League

In the early 1970’s, Ray Price was a hard running flanker for Parramatta, making 68 appearances for the club before earning eight caps for the Waratahs and seven for the Wallabies.

One of those caps came against England in the infamous Battle of Ballymore where he gave the English the old “what-for”.

Inside the Battle of Ballymore…fists, boots, stiff arms and Ray Price flying #AUSvENG #Wallabies https://t.co/NrUBXOPCC8
— Jim Tucker (@HulaBulaJim) July 4, 2022

1976 saw him swap codes and join the Parramatta Eels, following in the rugby league footsteps set out by his father Kevin Price, who had a long career for the North Sydney Bears.

Ray was an instant hit for the Eels, as a key figure in their run of success and establishing himself as a combative but important member of the New South Wales and Australian forward packs on a representative level.

He even won a Dally M medal in 1982.

Michael O’Connor

Rugby Union > Rugby League

Price was the 36^th dual code international in Australia after his debut for the Kangaroos in 1978, there would not be another one until 1985 when Michael O’Connor also joined the club.

That switch came after a long career with the Canberra Royals and North Brisbane, where his performances earned him 13 Wallabies caps, his last one came in 1982.

1983 saw him join St George where he rose up the ranks and in 1985, he played for the Blues in Origin and joined the Kangaroos for their midseason tour of New Zealand.

It’s fair to say his kicking was a strong suit.

#NRLOnThisDay – 29/05/1991:

Michael O'Connor for the win!#Origin pic.twitter.com/PId3ocIHXT
— NRL (@NRL) May 29, 2017

Ricky Stuart

Rugby Union > Rugby League

Yep, that’s right, sticky started off in the 15-man code and even playing in three Wallabies tour games, making his debut against Argentina in 1987.

He picked up rugby union in school and earned a spot in the ACT schoolboys team, however he was not long for union, he joined Canberra in 1988 and spent a decade in the nation’s capital.

Fair to say he was a hit in the 13-man code.

WHAT A PASS!!!!
Ricky Stuart throws one of the greatest passes I’ve seen in a game of Rugby League.
Australia vs Great Britain 1994#australia #kangaroos #testmatch #flashbackfriday #legend #great #aussies #oldschool #classic #magic #freak #nrl #rugbyleague pic.twitter.com/UAPrDm43m5
— Rugby League Best Tries Hits and Biffs (@NBiffs) July 25, 2019

Jason Robinson

Rugby League > Rugby Union

The allure of a World Cup brought plenty of code swaps from league to union in the early 2000’s.

English winger Jason Robinson played over 300 games for Wigan and made almost 20 appearances for England or Great Britain in his rugby league time.

But following a brief stint with Bath in 1996, the opportunity to play union was too good to pass up, playing over 150 games for Sale and over 51 appearances for England, plus five British and Irish Lions caps.

Some say his biggest contribution to English sport came in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final and… to be honest they might be right.

Andrew Walker

Rugby League > Rugby Union > Rugby League > Rugby Union

Walker made multiple swaps throughout his career, spending his junior days playing for Randwick before signing his first NSWRL deal with the Dragons in 1992.

Walker played in one game for the Kangaroos in 1996 and left league in 2000 to play for the ACT Brumbies with an eye on the 2001 Lions tour and 2003 World Cup.

Walker only played seven games for the Wallabies but he did become the first indigenous dual code international, with his peak coming during the Lions tour.

Andrew Walker. First Indigenous dual code international. Great #Wallaby. pic.twitter.com/XUh49hr3u2
— Wallabies (@wallabies) October 14, 2017

He returned to league after disciplinary issues, playing for Manly, before ending his professional career with the Queensland Reds.

Brad Thorn

Rugby League > Rugby Union > Rugby League > Rugby Union

No code swapper has had a more decorated career than Brad Thorn whose accomplishments are too numerous to list.

To cut a long story short, wherever Thorn went, success followed as he won multiple titles in his club career with the Brisbane Broncos and Crusaders.

Plus at a representative level with Queensland and Australia in rugby league and the New Zealand All Blacks in rugby union.

After multiple stints in league and union, his playing career came to an end in the short-lived NRC as a 41-year-old playing for Queensland Country.

STORY: All Blacks World Cup hero Brad Thorn to strap on the boots for @QLDCountry_NRC in #NRC at age 41: https://t.co/QARjrt4jZl (PIC: AAP) pic.twitter.com/SCg0yJtxcs
— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) September 22, 2016

After swapping the boots for a clipboard, Thorn has also has enjoyed an impressive start to life in charge of the Queensland Reds.

Wendell Sailor

Rugby League > Rugby Union

Sualii’s switch might have been the most publicised code swap since Wendell Sailor left the Brisbane Broncos for the Queensland Reds in the early 2000’s as he chased a spot in the Wallabies Rugby World Cup squad.

After almost 200 appearances and four titles for the Broncos, plus several State of Origin titles he jumped ship.

His larger than life personality drew plenty of eyeballs to the game when he was playing as it was impossible to not notice Big Dell running down the sideline.

Wendell Sailor, Indigenous #Wallaby. Known as ‘Big Dell’, one of our great wingers. pic.twitter.com/p2ncubo7OG
— Wallabies (@wallabies) October 16, 2017

While he did not quite become the dual-code World Cup winner as a part of the defeated Wallabies side in the 2003 final, Sailor was happy to become a dual-code pantomime villain.

He did the unthinkable and left the Reds for the Waratahs and he became the least popular man at Suncorp Stadium when the Tahs came to town.

Mat Rogers

Rugby League > Rugby Union > Rugby League

Another one of the “Rugby League Three” that left the NRL for rugby union, Rogers followed in the footsteps of his dad, playing for Cronulla and representing Queensland in the State of Origin series.

After a rough start to life as a union player, battling injuries and other issues, he still managed to amass 45 Wallabies caps, being utilised all across the backline.

Remarkably his 45 Wallabies appearances actually exceeded the 32 Waratahs games over his five seasons in Union.

To conclude his career he was one of the inaugural members of the Gold Coast Titans squad.

Lote Tuqiri

Rugby League > Rugby Union > Rugby LEague

The Fijian native might have had the best run of the 2002 converts, playing 67 games for the Wallabies after spending three years with the Broncos building up his reputation.

Arguably the best try of his rugby union career came in the 2003 World Cup Final when he monstered Jason Robinson.

Here’s the best video we could find.

Tuquiri finished his career code hopping between Leicester, Wests Tigers, Leinster and South Sydney.

Sonny Bill Williams

Rugby League > Rugby Union

With the rugby league world seemingly at his feet, Sonny Bill Williams shocked the code by walking out on the Bulldogs midseason and signing with Toulon in France.

He moved back to New Zealand in 2011 to play Super Rugby with the Crusaders, Chiefs and Blues with a brief stint at the Roosters in the middle of that.

In his time with union he played in three World Cups, winning two and producing an all-time viral video after the 2015 Final.

Whichever code he played, he was a pain for opposing players to deal with, even in the rugby sevens game.

Two-time RWC winner Sonny Bill Williams has announced his retirement from both codes of rugby

We got to see him bring his all-round game to #HSBC7s as a member of @AllBlacks7s pic.twitter.com/zoEZbC0Nhs
— World Rugby 7s (@WorldRugby7s) March 10, 2021

Israel Folau

Rugby League > Rugby Union (via Aussie Rules)

This one could have go so very differently in the days before social media.

He broke onto the scene with the Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos before heading over to the New South Wales Waratahs.

Folau was a one man wrecking crew in his league and union days, scoring tries for fun and becoming the all time leading Super Rugby try scorer.

However a series of controversial posts derailed his career in Australia and sent him overseas to play league for Catalans Dragons.

Most recently he was seen playing for Urayasu in Japan and representing Tonga on the international rugby union stage.

Karmichael Hunt

Rugby League > Rugby Union (via Aussie Rules)

After having the chance to sample both codes as a junior, Hunt jumped at an offer from the Brisbane Broncos and made his debut in the opening round of the 2004 NRL season.

He looked like a season veteran and became a key player for the side over his six-year stint with the club, scoring plenty of tries for fun.

Round 7, 2009 – Broncos continue their great start to the 2009 season making it 6 wins from 7 games with a 40-8 thrashing over the Eels at Suncorp. Karmichael Hunt had a field day scoring 3 tries and producing a try assist. #bronxnation pic.twitter.com/nnUVLUKbrI
— BroncosHQ.com (@BroncosHQ) September 16, 2020

After leaving the team at the end of the 2009 season Hunt went over to France for a short-term stint with Biarritz before starting a contract with the Gold Coast Suns in the AFL.

Once that experiment had run its course, Hunt signed with Super Rugby side the Queensland Reds making his Wallabies debut in 2017.

However after off-field indiscretions saw him fall out with Brad Thorn, Hunt went south to join up with the Waratahs for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

In 2021 Hunt made his rugby league swansong, featuring in two games for the Broncos in his last professional appearances.

Marika Koroibete

Rugby League > Rugby Union

Fijian native Marika Koroibete grew up playing the national game of his homeland, rugby union but after moving to Australia, he signed with the Wests Tigers and made his debut for them in 2012.

He adapted to the 13-man code very well, playing for the Fijian national team seven times across his time with the Tigers and Storm.

However union was always calling him back and in 2017 he switched to the Melbourne Rebels, while also becoming eligible to represent the Wallabies under the residency rule.

There is no questioning his rugby pedigree and in 2022 he won the Wallabies player of the year after being called up from his Japanese club side.

Safe to say he is going to feature heavily in Eddie Jones’ plans for the upcoming Rugby World Cup if he keeps pulling off tries like this.

Sam Burgess

Rugby League > Rugby Union

Not every conversion goes well and despite his attempts to switch over, it’s fair to say Sam Burgess was a much better league player than he was rugby union.

In his time in the NRL, Burgess was one of the game’s hardest hitters and was a huge presence for both club and country.

Everyone will remember his efforts in the 2014 Grand Final with a broken face.

However later that year he shifted over to union with an eye on England’s home World Cup in 2015 and… well things didn’t exactly go to plan.

Despite earning a call up to represent England, his slow adaption drew plenty of criticism and his involvement in the host nation’s disastrous campaign did not help matters as the entire squad was ripped to shreds.

Less than 12 months after his first club game, Burgess rejoined the Rabbitohs where he stayed until his retirement in 2019.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck

Rugby League > Rugby Union

The man known as RTS on social media was an NRL gun playing for the Roosters and Warriors over a nine year span, making his debut as a 19 year old.

A loyal Kiwi, his time in the NRL came to an abrupt exit as a result of the Covid pandemic as the border closed between Australia and New Zealand, robbing him of a Warriors farewell.

Not that his impact for the Warriors will be forgotten anytime soon.

With a World Cup on the horizon, it seems like he is enjoying his time in the 15-man code with an extended stay looking likely as he prepares to see the world.

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from Ladbrokes Blog https://www.ladbrokes.com.au/blog/2023/03/31/rugby-code-hoppers/
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