No Wallabies jersey this year
Mark Nawaqanitawase is out. The Roosters winger will not feature in the Wallabies’ Nations Championship Tests against England, Scotland and Wales, and the door to his Australian career is now far from open.
His agent, Milan Volavola-Shankar, put it plainly: “Mark will not be available for international rugby this year.” Volavola-Shankar says the player told coach Les Kiss in July and that Rugby Australia has been notified. Kiss tells a different story about the contact. “I haven’t heard back from him yet, but we’ll see,” he said, adding that he had only one chat with the winger earlier in the season.
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Fiji and Italy in the frame
The 26-year-old is eligible for Fiji through his biological father and for Italy through heritage. A three-year international stand-down ends in August next year, which would clear him to switch. His agent said he “remains open to all options regarding his international future.” Volavola-Shankar is the brother of Fiji fly-half Ben Volavola, a link that will not go unnoticed in Suva.
Nawaqanitawase is heading to Japan with the Panasonic Wild Knights, so a Northern Hemisphere tour was never going to be easy to fit in anyway.
A big loss on paper
He leaves league on a high. Nawaqanitawase scored a brace in the Roosters’ 19-18 NRL grand final win over the Newcastle Knights, ending a two-year NRL stint with a title. He also won a State of Origin series with New South Wales this year and was named Dally M Winger of the Year in 2025.
His Test record is short: 11 caps for the Wallabies between 2022 and 2023, plus a spot in Australia’s sevens team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Kiss called him “obviously flavour of the month, for sure,” and a winger with that profile is not easy to replace.
The Wallabies host the 2027 World Cup, so every selection question matters more than usual. For now Australia are one finisher down, and a rival union may be about to gain one.
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