Rugby league: Report - Sonny Bill Williams, Israel Folau feature on NRL hit-list

NRL clubs may reportedly consider poaching big names from overseas if the shortened Australian season gets underway before competitions from around the world restart.

The NRL campaign was suspended after two rounds because of coronavirus but league bosses have announced their intention to resume action on May 28.

If that plan eventuates and rugby league and rugby union competitions in other parts of the world remain on hiatus, it would open up the door for NRL clubs to recruit high-profile players based overseas on short-term deals.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports Israel Folau — who is playing for French side Catalans in the UK Super League after being sacked by the Wallabies — Quade Cooper and Sonny Bill Williams would be prime candidates for an NRL poaching raid.

Former All Black Sonny Bill Williams. Photo / Getty

Williams recently signed a whopping $10m, two-year deal to play in the UK with Canadian league side Toronto Wolfpack while former Wallabies five-eighth Cooper would be playing rugby in Japan with the Kintetsu Liners had the coronavirus outbreak not happened.

According to the Herald, at least one NRL club is preparing to gauge Folau's interests in returning to the competition where he made his professional debut as a teenager with the Melbourne Storm.

It would be interesting to see whether an NRL deal with Folau would be registered after Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) chairman Peter V'landys blasted the dual international for making homophobic comments on social media.

''The comments of Israel are not inclusive. Israel has to understand he is a role model … he has a duty," V'landys said last year. "When I was at school and kids used to get bashed up because they were different, I used to go and defend them. I have no tolerance for people who put other people's lives into violence or whatever.''

Quade Cooper. Photo / Photosport

Cooper is training in Brisbane alongside Broncos star Tevita Pangai Jr, and has gone viral in recent days with his stunning NFL trick passes. The former Wallabies World Cup star has previously said he would be open to playing in the NRL.

"I wouldn't mind playing NRL either, just for one season or even just come and do some training with the lads to see what it is like," Cooper said on The Ice Project podcast last year.

"If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I am happy with what I have been able to achieve, but if the opportunity arose I would love to do it."

All Black Ardie Savea who, like Cooper has expressed an interest in playing rugby league, was another name tossed up as a potential target for NRL clubs alongside Folau and Williams, as were union and league stars like Kurtley Beale, Karmichael Hunt and Jackson Hastings.