Les Kiss has provided an update on where things stand between the in-demand Mark Nawaqanitawase and the Wallabies.

After winning his maiden NRL rugby league title with Sydney Roosters this month, Nawaqanitawase is returning to union by joining Japanese club Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights.

This switch has opened up a three-way battle for his international allegiance heading into Rugby World Cup 2027. The 26-year-old, who played for Eddie Jones’ Wallabies at World Cup 2023, has recently talked about his eligibility for Fiji and Italy now that his three-year stand-down period has elapsed.

The situation has generated plenty of headlines, with Nawaqanitawase shedding light on his current state of mind last week on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby.

“I’ve come from an experience at the Roosters where the set-up, everything from top to bottom, just the way they made me feel, and the experience that I’ve had to win, I definitely do have to think about where I’m going to go, where I’m going to get that feeling again. People will never understand that – and that’s the biggest part of making the decision.”

“We don’t want us versus them or him versus us. We don’t want that at all…”

Wallabies boss Kiss has now revealed where he is with his conversations with Nawaqanitawase. Appearing on the KOKO show before flying north ahead of a November Nations Championship schedule featuring matches against England, Scotland and Wales, he spoke about the code-hopping player preparing to enter a totally alien world now following his three-season stint playing league.

“There’s a lot of opinion around that,” he admitted over the chat that has fired up around the three-way tug of war for Nawaqanitawase’s international team services. “My media guy gives me plenty of feedback, but that’s who you are in this domain. You’re going to have people look at you and critique you and look at all those different things.

“The one thing that I wanted to make sure was clear when I spoke to Marky Mark is to ensure that he knows we’re here, that we understand your story as much as possible. He’s got to manage how he manages his story.

“None of us, I don’t think, are saying nothing’s off the table. I just think we want to make sure we keep it in a space that is go and get back into rugby, do whatever promotions you want, be you, whatever it is, but let’s just keep it on the table that we can talk because we don’t want us versus them or him versus us. We don’t want that at all.

“We just want him to know that we’re here to support. He knows that he has to earn it (with the Wallabies). I’ve said it to him, and he wouldn’t want it any other way. I said we’re about team first. He said that’s great to hear.

“He just wants to be in the right places. Now he’s got a lot of advisers and people working with him and going through this transition back to rugby. He’s got to re-learn the game, body height, he’s been a right side player for two years now. You know what it’s like; you’ve got to be able to move in different spaces. So, it’s going to be a totally alien world to him now.

“The fact that he isn’t doing anything in this period and is only going to go back to Japan and relearn the game to a degree is ideal in so many ways. Where that goes in the future, we just want to know that this is an open conversation always and no judgment on anything.

“We just want to be there, and if he needs to chat, I know I can ring him. When I text him, I know that we’ll get a phone call soon, so that’s an open place to go for.

“He is extremely talented. He’s a good footballer and he will be in the mix, but I’ve got some bloody good players here too. When you look at the guys who aren’t there at the moment in Australia, Cory Toole and Tim Ryan, they’re class players. You’ve got Dylan (Petsch), you’ve got Filipo (Daugunu), you’ve got Pots (Harry Potter). Max (Jorgensen), one of the best in the world.

“So I’m not going to let any indication that this is the answer. It’s not. It’s part of what we will be together if he’s there, he has to earn it. He knows that. There’s some real quality players in our group and I want our group of players and everyone involved with that Wallaby outfit (to know) that we’re not waiting for Marky Mark.

“If he’s playing well, there’s no doubt you would have him, but I want them to also know that Dylan, you are good enough for this role. Max, you’re a world beater. Pots, Filippo, all those guys, Sua (Joseph Suaalii), who’s ripping it up there as well.

“It’s important it settles in the right place because some people, I believe it’s quite emotional and that’s fine, but we just want to be able to sit in the same room at any time and talk about things.”

In an extensive interview, some of the other topics discussed by Kiss were the gap that exists between the world’s best sides and his seventh-ranked Wallabies and also his relations with rival Test coaches.

About closing the gap, which was highlighted with the All Blacks running away with the latest Bledisloe Cup series, the head coach, whose record reads P7 W4 D1 L2, said: “It’s about recognising that our strengths are still there in many ways, but do we make the opposition feel our strengths enough?

“And I’d say that would be for every Test that we’ve done. The only team that we probably did it to was the Springboks. When we got them, we went for it, and then we were tested in another space with 11 men. It just gave them all an insight that yes, it does matter this jersey to everyone.

“We validated it and gave us something more than words to say it. It actually was substantial; it was tangible and that’s important. The gap is not so much that we’re not good enough. The gap is: how do we get our strengths out there? How do we take the tough moments, not let them take us back too far and then get our game back into play.”

As an example, Kiss dwelt on the Wallabies ‘winning’ the second half 14-7 against the All Blacks in Sydney, having gone into the interval trailing 7-36. “Although they scored first, we went and won the second half. Now it’s not a consolation; it’s just a reality that we did enough things to push that around.

“Maybe it wasn’t as high-octane for them anymore, for sure. However, there are some clues there for us that we can actually rip into and hopefully take that forward. So closing that gap, there are some good clues; there’s a good reason to believe.”

Moving onto his relations with the likes of All Blacks boss Dave Rennie and Rassie Erasmus of the Springboks, Kiss said: “That one with Dave in Auckland, we’re just talking about our next place to have a beer.

“It was great just to sit with him, have a beer and talk about footy, about his experience with the South African games and all those things. And it’s not just the footy, because sometimes you’ll always hold a couple of things back, but footy’s footy, you know. Are there many secrets in it?

“It was that we had to get boys to travel, got some injuries, the cost of tickets to get them into here because of the fuel prices and all these different things you talk about. We all live in that space; there’s different pressure in it and sometimes that kindred soul just talking about things just makes things feel better.

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“Running into Rassie before the Springbok game. It was just a great catch-up. I hadn’t seen him for a while. He coached at Munster when I was with the Irish national team. I coached Rassie back in the day. We’ve known each other for a long time, and it was just a great little catch-up.

“So there’s a lot of connecting points. All these things come out, but on game day, it’s usually a little bit of banter, but mainly saying I wish you an injury-free game, that’s all. I don’t wish you good luck and then move on. But they came to the sheds afterwards. Massively powerful moments to connect. Since covid it’s less done. Not many teams get together.

“There’s a referee conference that I’ll be at this coming weekend. All the coaches will be there, so we get a chance to mix with the referees which is great fun. We’ll all catch each other then, so it’s an interesting world, but it’s good.”