Would a Victorian All Stars team work?
Roar Guru By Curtis Woodward, 3 Jun 2012 Curtis Woodward is a Roar Guru & Live Blogger
- Tagged:
- NRL, NRL All Stars, Rugby League
The National Rugby League has made a concerted effort in recent times to bring big time rugby league to Melbourne. State of Origin and international footy have been annual events in the southern capital for quite some time, but there is nothing like Victorians barracking for Victorians, no matter what the sport.
The annual All Stars clash on the Gold Coast between the NRL and the Indigenous has been the season opener since its commencement in 2010 and has been a massive success.
Let’s take things a step further and have a second game in Melbourne on the same night. Victorian All Stars against Pacific Islands All Stars.
If you think there isn’t enough talent in Victoria, think again.
Altona junior and Cronulla Sharks backrower Jeremy Smith could captain the side in this historic clash at AAMI Park, while Victorian-born Brisbane Bronco Peter Wallace would wear the number 7 jumper.
Partnering Wallace in the halves would be Melbourne Storm junior, Gareth Widdop.
Leading the forward pack with Smith would be Canterbury prop and Storm junior, Aiden Tolman.
What about the power and size in the centres with Timana Tahu and monster Storm rookie, Mahe Fonua? At 185 centre metres and 103 kilograms, Fonua made the 2011 Toyota Cup Team of the Year and has been a regular in Victorian representative sides.
And just like Steve Price took up an invitation from New Zealand on the 2007 All Golds Tour, Victorian favourite Billy Slater could wear the Big V.
This is all a stretch, but why not as a one off? It’s a chance for Victorians to get behind a top flight Victorian rugby league side taking on some of the best players in the world.
Victorian All Stars
1 Billy Slater
2 Matt Duffie
3 Timana Tahu
4 Mahe Fonua
5 Justin O’Neill
6 Gareth Widdop
7 Peter Wallace
13 Jeremy Smith ©
12 Kevin Proctor
11 Robbie Rochow
10 Rhys Kennedy
9 Jay Lobwein
8 Aiden Tolman
14 Matt McGahan
15 Damian Sironen
16 Karl Davies
17 Dean Britt
18 Drury Low
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- Explore:
- NRL, NRL All Stars, Rugby League
June 3rd 2012 @ 6:07am
Johnno said | June 3rd 2012 @ 6:07am | Report comment
Great Idea Curtis.
-what i want rugby league to do, is still embrace state based rep footy.
But in this global world rugby league msut work towards restoring test match international footy as the pinnacle and no 1 achievement.
-And to do that it must pay test matches the same as state of origin matches.
-And i am getting so upset and annoyed with all the kiwis playing origin, . It is only for NSW and QLD people , not for kiwis, or people from England or PNG.
-So I hope Sam Kasiano doe snot become another james Tamou or karmichal hunt or brad thorn, or craig smith, or Tonie Carroll or adrian lam, or Nevill costigan.
June 3rd 2012 @ 7:05am
Football United said | June 3rd 2012 @ 7:05am | Report comment
see i’m the opposite, i want origin open to foreigners who have spent the majority of their life in their life in that state. International Rugby League is being held back by foreigners who are willing to change countries in order to origin as it is the pinnacle of rugby league in this part of the world. i myself consider myself both an englishman but also a Queenslander for living there most of my life now, many of these other players like Jack Reed, Gareth Widdop and Karmichael Hunt feel the same about their state and nationality.
June 3rd 2012 @ 9:38am
Renegade said | June 3rd 2012 @ 9:38am | Report comment
Johnno,
Spot on.
In fact, test players should be paid more than those picked in Origin.
This whole origin players need more money crap makes me quite sick….it should be about the honour of representing your state and country not money.
June 3rd 2012 @ 12:11pm
jdubya said | June 3rd 2012 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
Except people don’t get payed for the difficulty or prestige oftheir work. They get payed for how much money they bring in the door which is why Origin players get payed more and always will.
June 3rd 2012 @ 3:56pm
Renegade said | June 3rd 2012 @ 3:56pm | Report comment
And you think the origin players bring the money through the door….no they don’t – the sport and event does.
You could put any 34 players on the field with 17 in blue and 17 in maroon for origin and people will still watch.
June 4th 2012 @ 9:46am
mushi said | June 4th 2012 @ 9:46am | Report comment
Yep I’m yet to see anyone produce any data that shows in some way that there have been individual players capable of moving the dial in revenue.
June 3rd 2012 @ 6:20am
Johnno said | June 3rd 2012 @ 6:20am | Report comment
And add Fiji and Tonga to that lis too.
Ian Roberts for those that don’t know was born in England, and played for NSW and Australia. And for those that don’t know Bob FUlton was born in England too.
And Uate was born in Fiji as well, not in asutralia. He was born in suva fiji.
SO here is the list of foreign players playing state of origin NSW VS QLD
NZ
James Tamou
Karmichal Hunt
Craig smith
Nathen fien was born in Mt Isa QLD and played origin but went and played for NZ as did tonne carroll for a while then TOnie carroll went back and played for Australia
Brad Thorn
England
Ian Roberts born in London
PNG
Adrian Lam
Neville Costigan
Fiji
Akuila Uate
Tonga
Antonio Kaufusi
So as you can see many players not born in NSW or QLD playing state of origin. What is the point it is devaluing state of origin, and the eligibility rules have to be tightened.
And also no more greg inglis or Folau cases where they played for QLD as well, I mean that was well a turn it up moment, those 2 playing for QLD.
So rules for eligibility.
You must be born in NSW or QLD to play state of origin.
And with Canberra ACT you have the right to choose who you want to play for NSW or QLD As ACT is not a state it is a territory.
Can not be born in any other state of Asutralia
And not born overseas
It is that straightforward as state of origin credibility is being lost.
And i love the conept of a victorian all stars, have a NZ all stars which they are looking at doing, or a state championship of origin in Australia.
June 3rd 2012 @ 8:10am
Boomshanka said | June 3rd 2012 @ 8:10am | Report comment
Under your plan, Petero Civoniceva would never have played Origin, as he was born in Suva despite emigrating prior to his first birthday.
For me, Petro’s situation would mean he was brought up and played his first game in Queensland and I don’t have a problem with that, although in Tamuo’s case (given he played for the junior kiwis), he should not be eligible for either a Queensland or Australian jersey.
The rules need tightening – agreed, but it may not be as simple as proposed.
June 3rd 2012 @ 8:49am
Tom of Brisbane said | June 3rd 2012 @ 8:49am | Report comment
Where you are born is irrelevant. Always has been, always will be. Why can’t people understand that? Do you really think Peter Sterling should have played for Qld?
State of origin is decided by where you played your first game after the age of 16. Again, why can’t people understand that? Seems perfectly simple to me.
Under the RULES, Hunt, Folau et al are all Queenslanders. End of story. Get over it. The only one who is a bit dodgy is GI, and even there, no one held a gun to his head and said you must play for Qld.
June 3rd 2012 @ 9:23am
peeeko said | June 3rd 2012 @ 9:23am | Report comment
The kiwis need the rules to stay the same, there were 7 Australian born players in their last test team. I can’t believe get upset that players choose to represent Australia as a kid yet don’t care that Aussie kids represent Nz
June 3rd 2012 @ 6:51pm
Big_Marn2000 said | June 3rd 2012 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
The Aussie kids representing NZ is totally different to NZ kids representing Australia. All these guys like Nightingale, Pritchard, Gerard Beale, Josh Hoffman etc have NZ heritage (the only dodgy selection is Nathan Fien). But there’s nothing Aussie about Hunt, Tamou or Kasiano. They were all born in NZ, they have no Aussie heritage and they all migrated to Australia in their teens. They’re Kiwis, fullstop.
June 4th 2012 @ 1:45pm
peeeko said | June 4th 2012 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
No, when you immigrate here and choose to live here the rest of your life you become an aussie
June 3rd 2012 @ 11:21am
bjt said | June 3rd 2012 @ 11:21am | Report comment
is origin broken? is it in shambles?
if just a little research was put into the birth of origin, and not checking wikipedia to see where players were born, a little understanding might gained to why it’s so successful.
June 3rd 2012 @ 7:53am
Emric said | June 3rd 2012 @ 7:53am | Report comment
Leqgue should have a strong international competition
June 3rd 2012 @ 9:33am
Bozo Gummo-Zeppo said | June 3rd 2012 @ 9:33am | Report comment
Watch and enjoy: “That’s in Queensland”
June 3rd 2012 @ 1:02pm
Maximus said | June 3rd 2012 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
As RU discovered , combining the pacific islands in a team team doesnt always work
Before the 2008 World Cup when significant country swapping took place, the International League Board said enough and once this tournament is over, you have to choose a country and stick with it. Right. Then James Tamou did a Tonie Carroll and shifted from NZ to Aussie so then more hand wringing about we must tighten up – its why right thinking people think international RL is a joke…
June 3rd 2012 @ 1:13pm
code 13 said | June 3rd 2012 @ 1:13pm | Report comment
I’d rather see the Indigenous All Stars play an Islanders All Stars team with the game shifted to the Friday of grand final weekend.
Whilst the teams would miss out on players from the 2 NRL clubs, they also get a full 4 weeks of training camps and community work (with players joining after their teams are knocked out from the finals).
Having a game featuring the two largest minority groups in the game would be a boon to the NRL. By placing it on Grand Final weekend it also affords finals-like ratings and an Origin style contest whilst keeping February clear for a pre-season structure.
June 3rd 2012 @ 4:09pm
Phelpsy said | June 3rd 2012 @ 4:09pm | Report comment
So say you are identified as a 15 year old and storm pick you up. You play for storm juniors (if they have them) as part if a scholarship thing… And you’re a qld person, would you be in eligible
June 3rd 2012 @ 8:27pm
Anakin said | June 3rd 2012 @ 8:27pm | Report comment
Birth shouldnt come into it, nor really should where one plays their first senior game (Inglis is only a Qlder because he was playing for Brisbane Norths under the Storm – had a Sydney club picked him up he’d be a NSW player – thats ludicrous!!) .. it should be about where the player has played the majority of their football .. that is, where they developed as a player.
Now before one starts on the notion of who (what coach / club) actually made the player rep material, lets simplify it by then making any player who joins an NRL club declare where their allegiance lies if there is a split shift. Make the call when you come into grade – one shouldnt wait for a selector to come calling before deciding where their heart is, that cheapens this whole notion of state passion [and for that matter, the same should apply for nationality].
As for an ACT player being able to choose between NSW & Qld, thats even stupider! Why should they be given preferential treatment because they sit within the confines of NSW – they’re either NSW or they’re outside the system like the Storm juniors are .. which I might add may see some pretty handy footballers miss the mark down the track, but we already see that with overseas players being deemed ineligible for Origin.
On that last point, I cannot for the life of me see why a player who grew up and played all his football in one of these states being declared ineligible because they opt to play for their countyry of birth / ancestry. Origin isn’t an Australian selection arena, so why, why, why?? I would love a player to contest this in the CAS – it’s basically akin to racism!
June 3rd 2012 @ 10:24pm
Tigger madness said | June 3rd 2012 @ 10:24pm | Report comment
The first problem I see is you would have billy slater playing two games in a row.
Aside from that it’s a good idea.
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June 3rd 2012 @ 11:24pm
Mark said | June 3rd 2012 @ 11:24pm | Report comment
This is the worst idea I’ve ever seen.
First: You can’t just pick random players and say they’re from Victoria. Billy Slater is from Queensland. Just because he plays for the Storm doesn’t make him a Victorian. (and why don’t you have Cameron Smith or Greg Onglis in the side?)
Second: If this game was to be played (let’s face it, it will never happen) it would gain no interest! The Victorians aren’t interested. The crowd from the Melbourne State of Origin game were mainly fans who travelled down from Queensland and NSW.
Third: you don’t want to play too many rep games, au it would only decrease the value and importance of them.
June 4th 2012 @ 1:38pm
Ian Whitchurch said | June 4th 2012 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
Mark,
What you’re describing was also true of many of the NSW Origin sides, back when Australian Rules did Origin.