Rugby Australia placed Slipper in a target drug-testing pool when he was banned in May. It's understood the Brumbies have spoken to RA officials what testing would be involved in 2019 and beyond. Loading "The Brumbies have always had a long history of making players better through their program, so to get a chance to be a part of that is very exciting and something I am looking forward to," Slipper said. "When I spoke with [Brumbies coach Dan McKellar] about 2019 and beyond I was very impressed and cannot thank both him and the Brumbies organisation enough for the opportunity to take my rugby career forward with them." The Reds ostracised Slipper, Karmichael Hunt and Quade Cooper as part of Thorn's tough stance on player behaviour, but opting not to pick them meant three of Queensland's highest-paid stars were on the sideline.

Desperate to clear some room in the salary cap, the Reds will continue paying some of Slipper's salary when he plays for the Brumbies. Loading Brumbies chief executive Michael Thomson was excited to add Slipper to the club's roster, with the Test veteran to bolster depth and offer experience in a loosehead prop tandem effort with Wallaby Scott Sio. "Always one of the things in recruitment, we're very conscious of our culture and having the right people playing for the club," Thomson said. "After a number of meetings and discussions with James, we felt we'd actually be a very good fit for him. He's a high quality player, he's also a guy who's probably made a few mistakes.

"He's put his hand up and said 'I own that and I want to get back to playing rugby'. We wouldn't have recruited him if we didn't think he'd be the right fit culturally. Loading "He has obviously been through a very tough time and there have been a whole lot of things happening outside of football that contributing to him making some poor choices. "But from our discussions, he's in a much better place. We've always been one of those places where we give people opportunity, and we saw James as a quality footballer and a quality person. It's a great chance for him to start afresh. "No doubt he'll have a few things to prove on the field and we've already seen that in the NRC."

Slipper will finish the National Rugby Championship season with Queensland Country before joining the Brumbies for pre-season training in November. It's a massive move for the Reds stalwart, who played 105 games for Queensland since making his Super Rugby debut in 2010. He has also played 86 Tests for Australia and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika will be keeping a keen eye on his return to professional rugby before the World Cup next year. The Melbourne Rebels were also keen to lure Slipper to a fresh start, but they withdrew from the race to sign him and the Brumbies swooped. It means two of Australia's best loosehead props will be playing in the same team next year, giving Brumbies coach Dan McKellar a chance to manage Sio and Slipper's workload in a World Cup year.