TJ Perenara undecided over possible rugby league move

Chris Evans

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.”