Former Wallaby Mark Nawaqanitawase has taken the NRL by storm in 2025, scoring 23 tries in 22 appearances for the Roosters.
Few players have compiled a highlights reel as impressive as the winger/centre this season, prompting calls for Nawaqanitawase to go away on the Kangaroo Tour at the end of the year.
Some of the most celebrated and successful rugby union converts of all time took several years to adjust to the 13-a-side game. Nawaqanitawase joins this illustrious list of code-hoppers who adapted straightaway.
Michael Cleary
Flying winger Cleary played six Tests for the Wallabies before being lured to South Sydney in 1962, but he retained his amateur status in order to compete for Australia at that year’s Commonwealth Games – winning bronze in the 100 yards.
Cleary also scored 12 tries in nine appearances for the Rabbitohs in 1962 and bagged a double on debut for NSW after only a handful of first-grade games. The 22-year-old’s meteoric rise continued with an Australian Test debut in the Ashes series opener against Great Britain.
Cleary went on to win three grand finals with Souths, represent Australia in eight Tests and become the NSW Minister for Sport.
Dick Thornett
Randwick product Dick Thornett played 11 Tests for the Wallabies (as well as representing Australia at the Rome Olympics in water polo) before joining older brother – and fellow convert – Ken at Parramatta in 1963.
Helping spearhead the Eels’ drive to a maiden preliminary final appearance, second-rower Dick debuted for Australia against South Africa mid-season and toured Britain and France alongside Ken with the Kangaroos at the end of the year, playing all six Test matches.
Thornett played the last of 14 Tests for Australia in the 1968 World Cup final win and finished his career with a season at Easts in 1972.
Stephen Knight
Manly rugby union three-quarter Knight played six Tests for the Wallabies then linked with Western Suburbs in 1972.
The Magpies struggled that season but Knight scored seven tries in 11 games as a centre to nab a spot in Australia’s squad for the World Cup, where he made appearances on the wing against Great Britain and New Zealand.
That would be the extent of his representative career, but Knight was a reliable backline performer in 149 games for Wests, Balmain and Manly, winning a grand final with the latter in 1978.
Russell Fairfax
Gifted Randwick back Fairfax was one of Australia’s brightest rugby union stars when he switched codes after eight Tests for the Wallabies.
The Eastern Suburbs fullback debuted for NSW after just seven first-grade games, before playing a prominent role in the Tricolours’ drought-breaking grand final success.
But a broken leg in 1975 prevented an almost rise to dual international status and Fairfax’s career never quite recovered. He missed the Roosters’ 1980 grand final appearance and finished up with a modest season at Souths in 1980.
Ray Price
Wallabies loose forward Price made a remarkably swift transition to first-grade rugby league with Parramatta in 1976.
The rugged back-rower scored 12 tries – more than any forward in the competition – as he helped spearhead the Eels’ drive to their first grand final, a loss to Manly.
A long and decorated representative tenure began in 1978, while he won four premierships with the Eels in the 1980s and retired as one of the greatest rugby league forwards of all time after captaining his club to grand final glory in 1986.
Mitchell Cox
From a celebrated rugby union family, Cox played three Tests on the Wallabies’ 1981-82 tour of Britain.
The clever half adjusted seamlessly to rugby league with North Sydney in 1982, helping the Bears to their first finals series in 17 years and taking out the Dally M Five-eighth of the Year gong.
But Cox’s star waned at Norths and an initially successful move to Manly unravelled following Cliff Lyons’ move from lock to five-eighth in 1987.
Michael O’Connor
Brilliant 13-Test Wallaby O’Connor arrived at St George in 1983 amid plenty of hype – and he delivered from the outset.
The 22-year-old centre scored 14 tries in 22 games for a Dragons side that returned to the finals for the first time in three years.
Representative honours would follow in 1985, after which he became tryscoring and pointscoring machine in the three-quarter line in 18 Tests for Australia and 19 Origins for NSW, as well as winning a premiership at Manly in 1987.
Matthew Ridge
The catalyst for an influx of New Zealand rugby union converts to the NSWRL premiership – particularly of the goalkicking variety – Ridge made an extraordinarily instant impact on the professional code.
The wiry fullback was parachuted straight into the Kiwis line-up after scoring 54 points in his first four games for Manly in 1990, before playing a key role in Graham Lowe’s side reaching the second week of the finals.
Ridge was one of the decade’s finest custodians, a career 80 percent goalkicker, a 1996 premiership winner with the Sea Eagles (a stint with the Warriors was less successful) and a decorated Kiwis skipper.
Daryl Halligan
Halligan’s arrival at North Sydney in 1991 was met with considerably less fanfare than many of his fellow Kiwi converts of the era given he hadn’t played for the All Blacks, but the former Waikato fullback rapidly found a home on the wing for the Bears.
The 25-year-old topped the premiership with a Bears club record 196 points, including 13 tries, as they reached the preliminary final stage for the first time in 25 years.
An infamously off day with the boot in a tight major semi loss to Penrith put a slight dampener on a remarkable introduction season to the code, but he went on to win a premiership with the Bulldogs, become the first player to score 2,000 points in first grade and played 20 Tests for New Zealand.
Noa Nadruku
Fiji rugby union Test winger Nadruku was snapped up by Canberra after starring for Fiji at the 1993 Rugby League World Sevens.
An instant hit with the Raiders, Nadruku led the ’93 premiership with 22 tries from 21 – including three hat-tricks, one of which came in a losing semi-final effort against the Broncos.
Nadruku won a grand final with the Raiders in 1994, topped the competition’s tryscoring table again in 1996 and finished his NRL career with the Cowboys in 1999 after crossing for 90 tries in 131 games.
John Timu
At his peak as a winger/fullback when he forewent certain All Blacks selection for the 1995 World Cup to join the Bulldogs, Timu was an instant hit in the centres and became a dual international after just 11 first-grade games.
The dreadlocked newcomer was sensational in the Super League-ravaged Bulldogs’ unlikely charge to premiership glory from sixth spot, scoring a try in the preliminary final upset of the Raiders and a key hand in the grand final boilover against Manly.
Timu went on to play nine Tests for the Kiwis and enjoyed a fruitful stint with London Broncos.
Ben Kennedy
Australian Schoolboys rugby union rep Kennedy played in the Shute Shield for Manly before switching to rugby league with Canberra, the 22-year-old taking out the Norwich Rising Star award in 1996.
The damaging second-rower’s ball-running was a much-needed boost for an injury-hit Raiders side that year and it set the tone for a 15-try sophomore campaign.
An Origin debut followed in 1999, as well as a Test debut and a grand final victory after joining Newcastle. Kennedy retired in 2006 after two seasons as Manly’s captain, having firmly established his reputation as one of the era’s best forwards.