Suspended Australia winger Wendell Sailor says he hopes to return to rugby league if his appeal against a doping ban is successful.

Sailor represented Australia in rugby league before switching codes in a blaze of publicity in 2002, but says he is now keen to return to his roots.

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) terminated Sailor's contract when he was handed a two-year suspension after testing positive for cocaine during this year's Super 14 competition.

Sailor is appealing against the severity of the ban, arguing that the World Anti-Doping Agency's penalty code for recreational drug use is too harsh.

"Anyone that's ever been in trouble for social drugs, they don't take it to enhance their performance," he told Australia's Nine Network.

"Something has got to be done about that code."

Sailor, who played 37 rugby union tests for the Wallabies including the 2003 World Cup final, said he wanted to return to league if the ban was reduced.

"If that opportunity came along and hopefully if my ban got cut, I would probably love nothing more than to run out there," he said.