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Lomu looking for opportunity in new Aussie league

Former All Black winger Jonah Lomu is interested in playing in Australia's new national rugby competition kicking off next year, his manager said yesterday.

Lomu, who returned to the game last year after a kidney transplant in the hope of playing in next year's World Cup, has failed to win a contract to play in next year's Super 14 competition.

The giant winger this week conceded his chances of regaining his All Blacks' jersey were over.

But Lomu's name has been mentioned as a likely recruit for the new Australian eight-team competition, which is looking for high-profile players to help promote the venture.

"We certainly wouldn't turn away any conversations with regards to playing opportunities," Fiona Lomu, Jonah's wife and manager, told Australian Associated Press yesterday. "I guess it's not a common move for New Zealand players but ... the competition's changed a lot both here and in Australia and there are new opportunities that could be something that we would look at."

Fiona Lomu said she was not sure how much the 31-year-old's star value would be worth to a new club in a fledgling competition.

"I guess that's up to the club, he's a valuable player in his own right," she said. "Obviously he has a reputation and history and I guess that goes with that."

"[Money's] never been the primary driver for him ever in his career so it's certainly not how we approach decision-making," she added.

The club tournament, scheduled to begin in next August, will feature three teams from New South Wales, two from Queensland and sides from Canberra, Perth and Melbourne.

The Australian Rugby Union this week called for expressions of interest from non-contracted players who want to be considered for the competition.

Lomu, who made 73 All Blacks appearances, has played in two World Cups and was renowned in the rugby world for his blockbusting style in which he would swat aside defending players or simply run over them.

He contracted nephritis, a rare illness, which led to renal failure and a kidney transplant in 2004.
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