Kiwis and Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has told Australian media that All blacks halfback TJ Perenara is close to signing with the NRL club.
Waerea-Hargreaves said his intel was based on a conversation with Perenara's former All Black teammate Sonny Bill Williams, who told him last month that it almosta done deal.
"I spoke with Sonny and he reckons he's good mates with TJ. He's close [to signing]," Waerea-Hargreaves told media on Monday.
"We are obviously super keen. We'd love to have a guy of his calibre definitely amongst our squad, especially now with the injuries.
"There are such talented players doing it for so long in rugby union, but you want to see that talent come and give it a crack over here for sure ... They've been doing it for a long time in rugby union so they should come on over."
TJ Perenara celebrates a try for the NTT DOCOMO Red Hurricanes. SportsPressJP/AFLO
Whether or not the deal is "close", Perenara himself appears yet to decide whether he'll accept the offer but says if he re-signs with New Zealand Rugby, he'll probably never play professional league.
"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," he told media last week.
"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 said.
Perenara, who is currently playing in Japan for the Red Hurricanes, said he has been doing homework on the hooker position in the 13-man code, talking to current players.
"I've reached out to some boys with suggestions on who to watch. 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."
