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Advice from Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has convinced Bulldogs star Braith Anasta to stick with rugby league.
Anasta, 23, turned his back on a two-year deal with the Australian Rugby Union following months of speculation about his future.
The speculation will now focus on whether Anasta will re-sign with the Bulldogs for a reported $300,000 a season or move to another NRL club at the end of this year.
Jones told Anasta that if he wasn't 100 per cent committed to playing rugby for the NSW Waratahs next year, then don't bother making the switch.
"You can't commit to something unless you've made the right decision," Jones told the League Correspondent.
"He would've always been thinking `what could I have done in league' and we don't want blokes like that.
"He'd be learning a new sport. It'd be like going from cricket to baseball or basketball to Aussie Rules.
"I think he's made the right decision for himself. If he was committed we would've been delighted to take him."
Anasta - who said he'd felt sick over the past month weighing up his future - revealed it was Jones' words of wisdom that helped him reach a decision.
"He said `Braith if you haven't accomplished everything you have in league and you're not going to feel 100 per cent satisfied in making the switch then I think you shouldn't come'.
"If I did go to the union I probably wouldn't have been 100 per cent happy with what I've done in the game (of league)."
South Sydney, Canberra and the Sydney Roosters will be chasing Anasta's signature when the June 30 anti-tampering deadline expires, although Bulldogs chief executive Malcolm Noad hopes to stitch up a deal before then.
Souths patriarch George Piggins said Anasta would be taking a big risk returning to his junior club but it would be a "fairytale" if the five-eighth led the Rabbitohs to a premiership.
"If we don't buy the right players, it could be a risk for him," said Souths leagues club president Piggins.
"But I honestly believe that if Souths are successful, it would just be an unbelievable story.
"Whether it was him or Craig Wing or whoever came back and helped lift us to a premiership, it would be fantastic.
"Without sounding silly, if we had three or four good players come with him, it'd be a possibility I believe is there for us."
Piggins should not get his hopes up too high following Anasta's comments on his rugby league future.
"The Bulldogs will always be my first preference and I'll give them all the respect I can," said Anasta, a member of the 30-man NSW squad who has played three Origins and four tests for Australia.
"I really respect them as a club and they'll always have the first and final say for me.
"George would love to have me at Souths but it's not George's decision and it's not George's life either.
"I respect him and he's a great influence on my life. But my life is my life."
The Rabbitohs, with AUS$2 million to spend on the open market, have a much better chance of snaring Queensland Origin firebrand Michael Crocker, who looks likely to leave the Roosters at the end of this season.
Crocker has activated a clause in his contract that allows him to negotiate with other NRL clubs, despite being under contract to the Roosters until the end of 2006.
After meeting Roosters chief executive Brian Canavan, Crocker's manager Jim Banaghan was pessimistic about the 24-year-old's chances of staying at Bondi Junction.
Banaghan said Crocker, as a representative player, was underpaid at the Roosters, who are struggling to fit him into their plans due to salary cap pressure.
"He's been a loyal kid," Banaghan added.
"He's played for his love of football but now he's coming to the stage where he's going to get married and have a family.
"He's got to be sensible in how he approaches his profession. It's not a hobby."