Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has left the door open for NRL-bound Carter Gordon to join the Gold Coast early but it seems the Sydney Roosters will have to wait until next year for Mark Nawaqanitawase.
With Gordon, Nawaqanitawase and all other players leaving Australian rugby this year overlooked for his first Wallabies squad announced on Friday, Schmidt openly addressed the elephant in the room.
The Titans and Roosters have made plays at having Gordon and Nawaqanitawase respectively released early from their Rugby Australia contracts.
But with Nawaqanitawase training with the Australian sevens team, Schmidt said the dynamic fullback-winger was very much on standby for a Paris Olympics call-up.
"A priority this year is a pinnacle event like the Olympics," Schmidt said in a major blow to the injury-hit Roosters.
"And Mark, he may well follow that path in the short term and I think he'd be a real asset for the sevens."
There are some really good sevens players who've played through the whole series, so that's the conundrum for (coach) John (Manenti) and his management to work through."
Schmidt, though, said fellow 2023 Rugby World Cup tourist Gordon was a different matter given the Wallabies are well placed for five-eighths after Noah Lolesio, Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson were all picked in the 38-man squad for upcoming Tests against Wales and Georgia.
"Some of their percentages exceed Carter's and we've just got to be excited about the guys that we have got," Schmidt said.
"I've had a number of discussions with Carter. I really like him.
"He's a great young kid and there could be an opportunity for him to come back at some stage after probably getting a little bit out of his system from recent times, whether it be the World Cup or more recently."
Like Nawaqanitawase with the Roosters, Gordon signed a two-year deal to join his NRL club from 2025. It came after his Melbourne Rebels were axed from the Super Rugby Pacific competition.
Schmidt said he hadn't been part of any discussions around the possibility of the 23-year-old being released early to start his NRL career this season.
"It's something I hadn't really considered but I think it would be something we'd have to talk about if it came up," he said.
"I don't really want to get in their way. If they want to get on, they've chosen a path and they want to get on the pathway.
"But if that was the case, I guess it would be a decision for the rugby committee and that they may ask me my opinion.
"But it'd be something I'd throw back to the coaches because that's how we make our decisions."
NSW Waratahs pair Ned Hanigan and Izaia Perese were among the overseas-bound stars omitted but Schmidt - who said he phoned 31 overlooked players personally to break the news - insisted no one was being ruled out for future consideration.
"I don't think we put a line through anyone," Schmidt said.
"But they're taking a path and it's their chosen path and we've decided to take a path.
"But that's not at the exclusion of people. It's at the inclusion of those guys in this immediate future who are invested in Australian rugby, and we're very keen to invest in them.
"We've demonstrated a faith in the guys that are here and I guess we'll find out in two weeks just how competitive the group can be."
