Footy great Greg Inglis reveals why he turned down offers to defect to the AFL and NFL after being chased by some of the codes' biggest teams

NRL all-time great Greg Inglis has revealed how close he came to shocking the footy world by switching codes to play in either the AFL or America's NFL.

The 37-year-old achieved just about everything rugby league has to offer, winning multiple premierships with Souths and the Melbourne Storm, playing a huge role in Queensland's long era of State of Origin dominance and scoring 31 tries for his country in 39 appearances for the Kangaroos.

Inglis was forced out of the Storm at the end of the 2010 season after the club was busted breaking the salary cap and had to offload some of its stars.

That kicked off hot competition for his signature not just among NRL teams like Souths and Brisbane, but also one of the AFL's biggest clubs and some NFL sides.

In December that year he met with Essendon as they and St Kilda tried to land him - and he has now revealed he was so close to going to the Bombers that he was even in talks about how he'd have to change his body to deal with playing AFL.

'We had AFL, NFL. I almost stayed in Melbourne because I loved the culture so much that I almost signed with Essendon,' Inglis told Triple M on Friday.  

'I went there when James Hird was the coach at the time. I went in there and they were like, "Oh yeah, we'll play you, how much are you weighing now?"

'And just say I was weighing - I think it was the first time I ever got to, you know, 105kg, 106kg. Mate, I was 80-odd kilos when I came in [to the NRL]. 

'I had trouble hitting triple figures and now I can't get lower!'

The legendary fullback/centre was also being chased by two NFL franchises five years before Jarryd Hayne made history as the first NRL star to win a contract in America's big league. 

However, there was one huge obstacle to him packing his bags and heading to the States. 

'So we had the [New York] Giants at the time, we had Houston [Texans],' Inglis explained.

Asked what role he would have played in an NFL team, he replied, 'I'm not sure ... I think they just wanted me in there as a running back or wide receiver.

'American sport doesn't interest me ... I can't gravitate to it.

'With the NFL, I was like, I couldn't be bothered. You've got to be really into it and I wasn't.'

In the end, Inglis decided to switch to Souths - and it proved a great decision.

He scored 71 tries in his 146 matches for the Bunnies, none of them more important or enjoyable than his effort just before fulltime in the club's drought-breaking 2014 grand final win over the Bulldogs. 

While Hayne briefly showed potential for the San Francisco 49ers in a stellar preseason display that saw him make his regular-season debut in September 2015, he was cut by the team a month later and retired from the NFL the following year.

Fellow NRL to NFL convert Valentine Holmes didn't reach the same heights when he tried to make the New York Jets side in 2019, only featuring in preseason games before being released that November.