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It is a complete misreading of the decision facing the NRL to say they are thinking of “bringing in” Pacific players. To suggest State of Origin is about to be “torn down” is nothing more than scare-mongering.
Under the proposal, eligibility for the interstate competition does not change at all!
Yes, it’s Origin season. As usual, for the next two months, all other forms of rugby league will be pretty much forgotten and instead we’ll be deluged with the selection minutiae of the NSW and Queensland sides.
In Thursday’s Sydney Daily Telegraph, my colleague Paul Kent rails against changing the qualification rules to allow Origin players to represent tier two countries – a development which I am convinced is about to transpire.
The change is not intended to “bring in” new players, as many seem to believe. All it does is save existing, qualified Origin players from going through the hassle of changing the country of election with the Rugby League International Federation.
NSW and Queensland pretty much get whoever they want anyway, as long as they qualify under the current rules – i.e: they lived in the state before the age of 13. Thirty-thousand dollars a game will do that.
From last year’s teams, James McManus is Scottish, Aidan Guerra is Italian, Ben Te’o and Josh Papalii Samoan, Robbie Farah Lebanese, Jarryd Hayne Fijian, Michael Jennings, Tony Williams, Will Hopoate and Daniel Tupou all Tongan eligible.
Why should they have to play for Australia?
If the State of Origin eligibility laws have been tightened to protect the integrity of the series, why do we need the double jeopardy of tying all these guys to the green and gold when they could be out representing other nations and making our sport stronger?
At the moment, that $30,000-per-game cheque is wrecking international football. It’s causing people like Akuila Uate, who came to Australia only to play football – not as a part of an immigrant family like some the fellows mentioned above – to desert their home country’s football team right at the time they are most needed.
That $30,000 cheque gives the most powerful rugby league nation on earth an extremely unfair advantage over everyone else – and hurts the sport deeply.
England and New Zealand don’t need our help – James Tamou is not going to be allowed to play for NSW and New Zealand – but the other countries do, and the untying of Origin eligibility from Australian eligibility is an absolute necessity.
I admit there could be some unforeseen by-products. Some players currently aligned with the Kiwis could switch to a Pacific country so they could also play Origin. These are the players who could be “brought in” by the change – but they must have lived in NSW and Queensland before the age of 13.
I couldn’t find a single candidate. Maybe you can.
The proposed amendment doesn’t change the make-up of Origin teams one iota because the integrity of that competition and those teams has already been future-proofed by tightened regulations anyway.
***
Wow, more than 300 comments to last week’s column about disgruntled rugby league bodies aligning with rugby union.
Hot off the presses, I can report that the Rugby League International Federation is furious with the rebel Italians for aligning with the local rugby union.
“The RLIF categorically rejects any infringement on the sovereignty of rugby league and consequently considers FIR’s action to be illegitimate,” the game’s peak body said in a statement overnight.
“The RLIF has sole responsibility for setting rugby league’s universal standards, laws, regulations and practices, which are disseminated through its regional confederations and members. In Italy the sole legitimate authority for rugby league is the Federazione Italiana Rugby League.
“FIR has no jurisdiction over rugby league and the RLIF has written to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), FIR and World Rugby to confirm these facts. The body known as LIRFL is a rugby union entity without legitimacy, authority or credibility in the rugby league community.”
So there.