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Opinion
‘But I don’t like that rule’. That is the argument being put forward to allow Ronaldo Mulitalo to play State of Origin.
While it was decidedly rough on the young winger to be ruled out of Game 2 just hours before kick off, ultimately it was the right call.
Because Mulitalo is not just ineligible to play for Queensland, he’s ineligible to play State of Origin.
The current rules regarding eligibility were drawn up in December 2012 after years of dicey selections. The rules are pretty broad, allowing for certain people who were born overseas to still take part, but a line had to be drawn somewhere, because it would be ridiculous to let just anyone play Origin (the hint is in the name).
So it was decided that to pull on a blue or maroon jersey, you needed to have resided in the relevant state before you turned 13 – the rationale being that it’s the start of high school and of international rugby league rules, so it’s not just any arbitrary birthday.
And to make it absolutely crystal clear, a decision tree was drawn up so there would be no confusion.
The first question is: were you born in NSW or Queensland? If the answer is yes, you head down the path that asks a series of questions to decide which state you should represent.
If, however, your answer is no, the next question is: have you resided in NSW or Queensland since prior to your 13th birthday? If the answer is yes, you move back over to the path that decides eligibility.
But if the answer is again no, then there is one more question: did your father play State of Origin? Setting aside the fact we should change the question to ‘did one of your parents play State of Origin’, if the answer is yes, you can play for your parent’s state.
But if the answer is no, you are not eligible for State of Origin.
And for Mulitalo, the branches on the decision tree are the Phil Gould special: no, no, no.
(Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
Specifically, he was born in New Zealand, moved to Australia after he turned 13 and his father didn’t play Origin.
It’s as clear-cut as it gets.
Yes it sucks that he was ruled out on the day he was due to make his debut but that just means he should receive support, not an exemption.
Because why be flexible with this rule? Because Mulitalo is sad? Well, to be perfectly blunt, it’s at least in part his fault that we’ve got here.
Talk of checks and balances are well and good, and the fact the NRL didn’t pick this up earlier is undoubtedly embarrassing, but HQ really should be able to have faith that the NSWRL and QRL put forward eligible players.
And shifting to the QRL, while they should have asked for evidence that Mulitalo had been a resident since before his 13th birthday before ever letting him play for them at any age, they’re not the ones who filled in his eligibility form.
No, that was Ronaldo Mulitalo’s job – and it was hardly an onerous task. He was asked three yes-or-no questions.
Were you born in NSW or Queensland? No.
Have you resided in NSW or Queensland since prior to your 13th birthday? No.
Did your father play State of Origin? No.
Then you are not eligible to play State of Origin.
Paul Green could’ve used Mulitalo in Game 2. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
And Mulitalo knew that, because on his playing contracts from 2015 and ’17, which Fox Sports obtained and published yesterday, he answered no to those three crucial questions…
But then he kept on answering questions that no longer applied to him.
So yeah, maybe someone at the QRL or NRL should have picked him up on it, but why didn’t he just stop filling in the form after it said in black and white “you are ineligible to play SOO”? It looks decidedly like he just didn’t want to cop the fact he wasn’t right to play.
As for the fact he played for Queensland in 18s and 20s, it doesn’t change the fact he was ineligible, it calls into question the validity of the results in those games, because he shouldn’t have featured.
Furthermore, contrary to Fox Sports’ declaration that lacing up for these games made “Mulitalo eligible for senior Origin”, I would point out that two wrongs don’t make a right – and, more to the point, the wording regarding these games is “if you have played Origin at U18, U20 or senior Origin, your state of eligibility is confirmed”, which just means you can’t play for the Blues in 18s and Queensland in 20s, not that jagging a game at junior level overrides all other eligibility rules.
The only way I could foresee it being somewhat sticky is that perhaps the young Shark had been in the process of moving when he turned 13, which the Sydney Morning Herald suggested: “There is confusion around whether Mulitalo actually lived with his brother before his 13th birthday, before later returning to New Zealand and coming back a year or so later.”
However, in that same article, Mulitalo seemingly put paid to that argument, saying he came to Queensland “when I was 13 and ten months”.
“They’re going to strip everything I’ve worked for my whole life because of ten months?”
Well, yes – at least, they should.
(Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
Because Origin eligibility is broad by necessity, but there also needs to be a line drawn and that line was drawn – almost a decade ago – at the age of 13. By his own admission he came to Australia ten months after that date and, based on my maths, that would have been in mid-2013, so the present eligibility rules were in place.
It’s as black and white as the Kiwi jersey he should be wearing.
That Ronaldo Mulitalo was allowed to believe he was going to play is a crappy situation but to use discretionary power to now let him play rewards people for doing the wrong thing – him for filling in a form incorrectly and Queensland for not doing the necessary work to ensure he was eligible. It would encourage lying and laziness.
Terms like ‘robbed of his dream’ are wide of the mark – letting him play robs eligible players of their dream. And bringing up the fact he was replaced by a kid born in Papua New Guinea is further argument against Mulitalo’s eligibility as it shows just how much latitude is already given in this area.
As for Joseph Suaalii playing NRL at the age of 17 setting a precedent? I’ve made my thoughts on that clear, so I’ll just say that Peter V’landys would do well to avoid using what little cachet he has left to torch yet another rule.
Ultimately, the only reason to let Mulitalo play is based on emotion: we feel sorry for him and the situation he found himself in on Sunday. Checks and balances should have prevented it from occurring.
But you know what else would have prevented it from occurring? Ronaldo Mulitalo filling in his forms correctly.
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