Does Olympic rugby need NRL players?

Roar Pro

28th August, 2012

1214 Reads

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ptovey01

Roar Pro

28th August, 2012

161

1214 Reads

At a BBQ on the weekend, the footy talk was going strong, fuelled by a couple of beers and some chilli sausages. The conversation moved on from how terrible the Wallabies were to how will rugby go in the next Olympics.

Selection criteria was brought up. If they were looking for the best team to play at the Olympics, would they be selecting the best players for 7s Rugby?

Or would they only pick players contracted to the ARU? Effectively, to win gold, does the Australian Olympic team need NRL players?

Now it might be a mute point, given the NRL season will be mid season when the Olympics are on in 2016. There is no way they would allow their top players time off to play a rival code, Olympics or not.

But what a great side the NRL could put forward.

There are a many more out there who would be able to make the grade, but my NRL team to represent Australia at the Olympics for rugby would be:

1 Greg Inglis
2 Johnathon Thurston
3 Brett Morris
4 Josh Morris
5 Tony Williams
6 Cameron Smith
7 Will Chambers
8 Jarryd Hayne
9 Brett Stewart
10 Glenn Stewart
11 Akuila Uate
12 Michael Jennings
13 Billy Slater
14 Justin Hodges

I love union and league and I know code wars are all too familiar on The Roar, but we all know how fun these hypothetical debates are.

I’d like to know the views of other Roarers and maybe name a 14 man 7s Rugby squad based on players available now, picking only players from the NRL?

Additionally, I’d like the thoughts on the calibre of the current ARU 7s team and which players (if any) from the current Wallabies squad, should make the 7s squad if they were available for selection?

161

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