England’s Australian rugby mentor Eddie Jones has revealed his NRL “dream” to coach the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Jones, the former Wallabies coach, has been a Rabbitohs supporter since childhood and throughout his career has hired former NRL players and coaches as support staff.
After beating the Wallabies 2-1 in July, Jones stayed on in Australia to visit the Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Demons and Penrith Panthers to broaden his knowledge.
READ MORE: NRLW star’s fury at Manly player boycott
READ MORE: Boycotting Manly players told to stay away
READ MORE: Explosive details of Cambage split revealed
“If there was an opportunity there (in the NRL) I would jump at it, but the reality is it’s probably not going to be there,” Jones told Nine while at Penrith.
Asked specifically about coaching Souths, Jones got excited.
“That would be the dream team. That would be the dream,” Jones said.
NEW PODCAST: Morgan Turinui joins Sean Maloney and Andrew Mehrtens to unpack a seismic month of northern vs southern hemisphere Test rugby
“From the age of five, I’ve supported Souths. That would be fantastic. I loved the old teams with Ronnie Coote, Bob McCarthy, John Sattler and Eric Simms.”
Would he take the Souths job if it was offered to him?
“100 per cent, yeah,” Jones said.
Jones comes off contract after the 2023 Rugby World Cup and has also been linked with a return to Rugby Australia.
Jones, 62, coached the Wallabies from 2001-05 and led them to the final of the 2003 World Cup – the last time the tournament was held in Australia.
“I’d love to have Eddie back in Australia,” Wallabies assistant coach Scott Wisemantel told reporters on Tuesday.
“In what capacity, I don’t know. I just think he’d be great for the game heading into ’27, just the way that he promotes the game, the way he drums up business from your (media) end and interest.”
Jones was hurt by the sour end to the Test series when he angrily confronted a fan that called him a “traitor” for coaching against Australia at the SCG.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
