NRL All Stars becomes World All Stars as concept switches gears

I hope the NRL have not just watched the Rugby World Cup and gotten jealous , either way these games should be taken to France it does nothing for major International recognition and genuine growth of the sport Internationally playing games on the Gold Coast . Or is this event a backhander to aussie rules on the Gold Coast ? ..

why dont they play a Maori All Stars team 1. Beale 2. Nightingale 3. Whare 4. Hiku 5. Rona 6. Nikorima 7. Marshall 8. JWH 9. Luke 10. Bromwhich 11. Proctor 12. Harris 13. Eastwood

All stars lost me last year when we couldn't fan vote the NRL side anymore and all the power was given to uncle Wayne. That was one of the funnest things about the concept and was taken away for his favourites

Any chance of the power play rule being trialled again. One of the revolutionary All Stars ideas from Greenberg's office a few years back wasn't it?

I like the idea but probably just leads to less big names playing in the all star team

Fair enough. But if you're legitimately connected to two or more countries then what? I don't think a blanket ban on changing allegiances is realistic or right. But I do accept that there needs to be limits on how often and/or at what level switching can occur.

I mean dual nationality in reference to the amount of countries they play for. You pick a country then you arent allowed to change when you're too old to play for your first choice. I understand this was done to allow big names to play for emerging nations but it makes a mockery

The season is too long. Can't see too many people getting excited about this new concept. If the season was more streamlined and they concentrated on club games,origin and a handful of tests then it would be better.

Some people do have dual nationality. What then?

lol NRL trying to rip of the "US DREAM" ..the World Series featuring teams from.... AMERICA....lol yeah..this will crash and burn faster than a boner watching a paris hilton porn..

How about we have genuine home grown teams from the tier 2 countries and let them get beaten by plenty instead of this charade of international teams sourced from players with questionable links to there grandfathers homeland from England and Australia like the USA and Italy in the last world cup. It fools know one but looks good in a news grab or in one of Sleiman's articles. That is how every other international sports did it look at Sri Lanka in cricket and Japan and Georgia in Rugby When international league realizes it has to do the hard yards we will see some growth their is no short cut

This is a fake rivalry...this is terrible gimmickry. Who dreams up these fake ideas?! NSW v Qld is a real-life rivalry and Origin is the sporting manifestation of it. This All Star is fluff. Noone really cares about it. Why does the NRL think we want quantity? We dont! Give us quality please!

Before any choices of who plays for who, they need to instruct every player to nail down the country they want to play for. No changes, no second options and none of the "dual nationality". This makes a mockery of our International game. Only then can you pick who is Fijian, Tongan, Irish etc...

That's if it is supposed to be a "World XIII". But how can it be, when almost half of the squad from one of the world's top 3 nations is not eligible due to playing for the opposition? And when a genuine "World XIII" would be made up almost entirely of players eligible to play for Australia, New Zealand or England? Most fans wanted a pacific all stars vs Indigenous all stars game, which the NRL for whatever reason has decided not to go with. If they must have a "World All Stars", I'd suggest removing the option for players solely eligible to represent Australia to be part of the team. It doesn't make sense to allow Australian representatives when so many Australian representatives play for the opposition. The game lacks passion and rivalry because Australians don't want to be seen to be cheering against the Indigenous team, but at the same time, they don't feel an affinity to the team because it is positioned as the team representing Indigenous Australia. Having the Indigenous All Stars as the representatives of Australia in this match would create far more rivalry and interest in the game, not to speak of goodwill in the community, than having half the Australian test team playing against the other half on the other side. Stick with the current rule of at least 4 England representatives, and at least 4 New Zealand representatives; add in at least 4 Pacific and 4 European representatives who have not also played for any tier 1 country, and have the remaining 4 places for Australian players with dual eligibility who want to represent their country of heritage. There are a maximum of 4 places in the team for non-NRL players, given the one player from each club rule, which I think does undermine the concept and the inclusion especially of English and European representatives and should be reconsidered. If it is not the NRL All Stars, why select players to represent NRL teams? There will already be one team entirely made up on NRL players as it is.

The NRL is the United States of America in the sport of rugby league, likes to think it is always right and everyone else is wrong, likes to think it is the centre of attention and the universe. The NRL is indeed the defacto international body, hell it has more veto power than the RLIF itself. This once again reared its ugly head when the NRL made it's own reincarnation of the washington generals in creating the World All Stars, as ridiculous as it gets and how this game is sanctioned I don't know, the NRL will be in pursuit of the best 17 players not bearing Australian indigenous blood within the commonwealth reign with the exemption of severally weak, but best of the bad bunch France; to find more cheap entertainment for the war torn casual Australian rugby league fan.

It needs legitimate overseas players or it just invites the usual cynicism from the mainstream Australian rugby league media.

I would have no problem with Napa, McGuire, hayne, when he was around etc representing a pacific all stars team. Nothing stopping having a European all stars in future including players eligible for European countries through heritage, or a multicultural representative team with players born outside of a major rl nation or with at least one parent born outside. But world all stars with Australia as an option for players heritage is unworkable when Australian includes so many different heritages you would have to deny to celebrate players Australian heritage/origin.

Like I said above I see this headed towards the heritage route now that I've thought it through. It would be so much more interesting and do a lot more good for the game if legitimate overseas players were involved. Despite what many think there are good rugby league players who do not originate from the east coast of Australia.

I think the nrl could find themselves in a really tricky spot with the representation of the different countries of origin. Take Michael Jennings. Does he count as Tongan or Australian? If Australian, than he doesnt get to represent his heritage, which is the whole point, so players are disadvantaged for choosing to represent Australia. If he counts as Tongan, and any players of pacific origin count for their homelands in this team, they're basically saying Australian = white, which also seems to defeat the whole purpose. Personally would have preferred a combined pasifika all stars where any players of pacific indigenous heritage were eligible, including heritages like Filipino, niue, cook islands, etc. World all stars the way theyve said it will be selected seems a bit contrived.

I hope it doesn't end up like that.