There was always the belief that Angus Crichton would return to rugby.
It very nearly happened at the end of 2023, amid the Wallabies' Rugby World Cup mire under Eddie Jones, before some late contract squabbles saw Crichton's move to the Western Force go up in smoke.
But a touch over two years from that failed negotiation, Crichton will finally swap one side of Allianz Stadium for the other, and the red, white and navy of the Roosters for the sky blue of the Waratahs.
The 29-year-old is throwing everything on the line for a shot at Rugby World Cup glory with the Wallabies.
Let's answer some of the key questions of Crichton's code switch.
IS 31 TOO LATE TO BE SWAPPING LEAGUE FOR RUGBY?
For a player with no history in the game, or one trying to make the switch in the forwards, then the answer is probably a resounding "yes". But as is widely known with Crichton, he played rugby union with distinction as a schoolboy, winning two Sydney GPS First XV titles with The Scots College and was in 2014 selected in the Australian Schoolboys' squad for their tour of New Zealand, only to be forced to withdraw through injury.
A quick glance at Crichton's highlights on YouTube show you just how at ease he was with the game at school.
Still, at least 12 years will have passed since Crichton last laced up a boot in rugby and the game has changed considerably since then. His former Roosters' teammate Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii made a stunningly successful switch to rugby at the end of 2024, but he had only been out of the game for five years instead of 12, and was just 21. Crichton will be 30 in under a fortnight, and probably 31 by the time he plays his first game of professional rugby. He has certainly left his run late.
HOW IS CRICHTON'S BODY HOLDING UP?
Inevitably, when professional athletes near 30, questions about their age often bubble up to the surface. It may be one of the seasons why the Roosters were happy to let Crichton walk from Bondi. However, the back-rower has proven himself a durable edge forward in arguably the most physically demanding sport on the planet, averaging 20.4 games per season in his seven years with the Roosters.
Furthermore in 2023, when Crichton played only 13 games, he spent the first month of the season on the sidelines on a mental health break as he battled bipolar disorder. Aside from a troublesome finger that was eventually amputated in 2017, and an MCL knee injury in 2023, Crichton has managed to avoid any serious injuries throughout his 198-game NRL career.
WHAT POSITION MIGHT CRICHTON PLAY IN RUGBY?
As a junior, Crichton spent time in the back-row and in the midfield, before eventually winning selection in the Australian Schoolboys team as a No. 8. But the bulk of his free-running highlights with Scots College see him dominating from the No. 12 jersey.
What stands out, albeit from vision now 12 years old, is Crichton's offload, so too his ability to win the first point of contact in attack, traits that have only been heightened by his 10 seasons in the NRL.
A switch to the back-row will loom as a far greater challenge because he would be asked to do far more breakdown work, but more importantly school himself up on the scrum and lineout set-pieces.
HOW MIGHT CRICHTON FIT IN AT THE WARATAHS?
The long-running joke in Australian rugby is that the Waratahs seem not to be held to the nation's Super Rugby salary cap. There is a measure of truth in that, but one tempered by the reality of RA top-ups. Without them, there is no Suaalii nor Crichton - though one feels for the Western Force who tried to recruit the latter back in 2023.
But Simon Cron's loss is Dan McKellar's gain, particularly if, as expected, Crichton's switch will likely be facilitated in the midfield. NSW appear poised to take a midfield pairing of Joey Walton and Suaalii into the 2025, with George Poolman offering cover beyond that. They are in glaring need of some centre depth and Crichton could provide it.
In fact, a Crichton-Suaalii partnership could provide the power and threat that forces opposition defences to condense their midfield defence, freeing up the space for flyers Max Jorgensen, Harry Potter and even the improving Triston Reilly further out.
The counter to that will be concerns around the code-hoppers distribution, which we have already seen with Suaalii in his 18 months in the game. Sure, Crichton has a marvellous offload; but he may need to work on his wider passing game for those occasions when the Waratahs need to shift quickly to the outside channels.
HOW MIGHT CRICHTON SHIFT THE WALLABIES BACKLINE SETUP?
While Crichton's code switch might prove more challenging than Suaalii's, there is no way RA boss Phil Waugh, director of performance Peter Horne and incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss will have tabled a contract unless they agreed he was a genuine chance of being a success.
And there is the potential -- there is much ground to be covered between now and the Wallabies' World Cup opener -- that Crichton offers a solution to a persistent Wallabies problem. Not since Samu Kerevi's superb 2021 Test season, when he was key in helping Australia to second in the Rugby Championship, have Australia had a dominant ball-carrying 12.
That is countered, however, by Len Ikitau's near seamless shift one spot closer to inside centre, the position he was in 2025 named in World Rugby's Team of the Year, after earlier winning the John Eales Medal.
But there remains the belief that he is best suited to No. 13 and the prospect of a Crichton-Ikitau centre pairing does titillate the rugby senses. Such a move would then push Suaalii into the back three, where many good judges, including 113-Test Wallaby Adam Ashley-Cooper believe he is better suited.
"I think there's a lot of growth opportunity for Joseph to maybe be at the back, and also it would get his hands on the ball in a lot more space. Something that we've struggled with over the last four or five Tests is the aerial pursuit, defusing the bombs, so winning the aerial game," Ashley-Cooper said on the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast in 2025.
Should that be the case, there would be a genuine logjam in the Wallabies outside backs. Max Jorgensen, Harry Potter, Corey Toole and Dylan Pietsch all impressed on the wing on different occasions in 2025, while Andrew Kellaway remains a steady hand, though 2026 may prove to be his rugby swansong, and gun fullback Tom Wright is expected to make his return from an ACL injury mid-year.
And then there is Nawaqanitawase, who soared - literally - to new heights in the NRL.
There will be injuries in the run to RWC 2027, no doubt, particularly with a full six-game Rugby Championship to be contested beforehand, and therefore some hard-luck stories either way.
But what Crichton's signature will likely do is build depth and competition, and also offer Kiss and the Wallabies a potentially different backline alignment and approach.
And that, albeit gazing deep into the tea leaves, can only be a good thing.