Angus Crichton makes an incredible amount of sense if you can move past the price tag and the notion of whether it’s fair for our current roster of players.
Firstly, I want to touch on the case of his mental health. I have family members with schizophrenia and bipolar, and a few friends with bipolar as well. To be able to play a season of professional football after starting it in a psych ward is reflective of his immense mental strength, not of any supposed weakness. If people haven’t been exposed to these conditions, they often come across incredibly naive in the way they talk about them. Bipolar doesn’t discriminate and it is as tough as it gets. He’s bounced back with a commitment that is incredible, and it’s not like the condition emerged due to Angus being weak or broken. I dare say I haven’t seen any of our current centres show the same level of resilience or fortitude as Angus has shown in the last twelve months.
Secondly, people need to get comfortable with the fact that with Crichton and Suallii that were not buying players, but media space. There’s a reason that there were rumours about Payne Haas as well: all three players have dominated headlines in the last twelve months for reasons outside of their ability on the field. This is what McLennan wants: clicks and eyeballs.
The reality is that Crichton has already paid off a significant chunk of his first years salary with the headlines and digital real estate that the story has generated so far. His involvement in rugby will bring NRL fans to Super Rugby, if only to see how he performs. Personally, when RTS (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck) was playing for the Blues, I watched more of their games than I ever have prior to that. It’s an interesting narrative to follow, and Crichton undoubtedly captures more interest than we could ever rationally expect from Walton (Tahs) or Stewart (Force) etc to provide.
It’s a play for drumming up interest in the code ahead of the BILs and the home RWC. He won’t be the last NRL signing with this strategy in mind either.
Finally, he is a very talented player. He dominated in the GPS competition in Year 10 (and beyond), he’s represented NSW in Rugby League and he’s expressed an interest in rugby literally since signing with the Rabbitohs.
He will throw everything he has at his transition, and that’s more than can be said about many other NRL converts. If anyone questions his character and commitment, please reference the fact that he literally amputated one of his fingers in his early career to ensure his ability to take the field. I’m not sure how many of our Super Rugby crop would’ve run headfirst into the same decision.
I don’t necessarily expect him to dominate, but I hope he has all the success in the world. God knows we need it.
