The rise of the Pacific nations is adding to the significance of international rugby league for all nations, including Australia.
A few sad sacks bemoan the fact that many of the players who represent the Pasifika nations were born in Australia or New Zealand but that misses the point.
If the Kangaroos or Kiwis cannot come up with enough international quality players from their much-larger population bases, then they’ve got no one to blame but themselves.
Granted, it’s only certain geographical areas of Australia, New Zealand and England for that matter that tend to produce rugby league players but with populations of 26 million Down Under, 5 million in NZ and 56 million for the English, they should dominate rugby league internationally.
Particularly when Tonga’s population is little more than 100,000 residents, Samoa is around double that and Fiji is up to 900,000.
They have large expat communities in Australia and NZ who for the most part have emigrated in pursuit of more financially lucrative opportunities. Why shouldn’t the sons and daughters of these families want to represent their heritage?
For those complain “that player should be playing for Australia because they were born in Western Sydney”, if the shoe was on the other foot and they moved to another country, can they honestly say they would not allow their offspring to wear the green and gold in that scenario? Thought not.
It’s going to be a long time, if ever, before rugby league gets its act together before the sport can be set up in new territories across the world. With its inextricable link to rugby union, it’s already terminally behind the eight ball when it comes to trying to compete with the 15-player code’s global reach.
And it’s not like all the best Pasifika talent born in Australia and New Zealand is turning their back on those two nations. There is more than a dozen players in Sunday’s Origin game who are also eligible to represent Pacific teams due to their family heritage while the Kiwi team which faces Mate Ma’a Tonga on Saturday in Auckland also contains many players who could have pledged their allegiance elsewhere.
Blues winger Daniel Tupou has already declared he wants to represent Tonga instead of Australia at the World Cup at the end of the year and he will not be the only dual-eligibility player who makes that choice even though playing for the Kangaroos delivers more to the bank balance.
After the Kiwis won the World Cup in 2008, the Kangaroos have barely been troubled. They had won nine matches on the trot before the upset loss in the final to New Zealand and since then, their record stands at 41-6-1 while regaining the Cup and successfully defending it along the way.
They lost two of their last four matches – to New Zealand in 2018 and Tonga three years ago before internationals shut down when the COVID-19 pandemic hit but if anyone can justify how the Kangaroos are now fourth on the IRL world rankings after their decade-plus dominance behind the Kiwis, England and Tonga, then logic is not your ally.
All sports fans want their national teams to be dominant but when there’s no competition, the passion for Test football drops. Not just among the supporters but also the players.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Australian team was struggling to get the top talent to make themselves available for Test duty.
In the early 2000s, NRL stars would often prioritise rest and booking in early for off-season operations ahead of end-of-year tours in the green and gold.
It got to a stage where the ARL resorted to sending letters to Origin players in 2003 to let them know they must be assessed by the Kangaroos’ doctor before they can declare themselves unavailable for duty.
The previous year 19 players withdrew from the Tri Nations tournament in England when they were ruled out by their club doctors, prompting suspicions that their NRL teams had exerted pressure on them to avoid rep duty.
It was easy back then for Australian players to be apathetic. Even when under-strength, they would consistently trounce England and the Kiwis but that started to change when New Zealand flogged them 24-0 in the 2005 Tri-Nations final and then upset them again three years later to lift the World Cup.
In recent years it has been the rise of Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea which has given international rugby league the shot in the arm it has needed.
Look through the team lists for this weekend’s Representative Round – these four nations are filled with not just NRL experience but top-line talent like Jason Taumalolo, Justin Olam, Josh Schuster, Viliame Kikau, Jaydn Su’A, Kotoni Staggs and Maika Sivo.
It’s often said that Origin is successful when Queensland is defying the odds to beat the more populous NSW and the same can be said of rugby league internationally – when Australia are dominating, interest wanes but when we have an upset like Tonga’s win over the Kangaroos at the end of 2019, it brings legitimacy to a sport that is much maligned for its small global footprint.
So much of international rugby league’s efforts to boost its credibility, popularity and financial status depends on the World Cup.
The year’s tournament in the UK in October is no longer a near foregone conclusion and no matter where you’re born, that can only be viewed as a much-needed step forward.
JennyFromPenny
Guest
Apologies if you never meant that. There are pockets of sentiment around to suggest that overseas heritage should mean don't play for Australia, even if you are Australian-born.
Adz Sportz
Roar Guru
What? Who said he would be disregarded? I'm saying the choice should be his.
JennyFromPenny
Guest
No, he can't play Origin. He came to Australia same age as Mulitalo. He's never been eligible to play for Qld.
JennyFromPenny
Guest
No, he should never be disregarded from Australian selection regardless of his heritage. He is Australian.
Eric
Guest
Nat, you have to realise I don't live on here like you do. I come on throw some bait and reel you in all the time. Now out of the 34 "Tongan" and "Samoan" players last night just the 1 (one) was born in either country. That player was Spencer Leniu. Now I'm sure you won't be happy with that fact and I'll expect a tantrum but as I've said to the other boys on here, it is what it is
Micko
Roar Rookie
Disingenuous comment. We have a clear global system (mostly) of defined nations, nationalities, citizenship, and international boundaries. This is just a mockery of international sport.
Muzzo
Roar Rookie
Yep Kent, & now Aussies doing it now, on a bigger scale!!!
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
they all have man buns now don't they? there's always a delay when setting a scrum as they all make their hair adjustments.
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
just like NZ touring the PI nations to bring the youngsters to school in Un Zud
Nat
Roar Guru
"Heritage – becomes a clash of race v race rather that country v country doesn’t it?" No, not really. There are different cultures within the PI nations and intermingled within each other. One can have Melanesian heritage that is prevalent in both Fiji and Tonga. There are plenty of Samoans in Tonga. The 2nd largest ethnic group in Fiji are Indo-Fijian (Indian). All of whom make a large % of Polynesian heritage in New Zealand. So a player can be born in and/or have heritage ties too and rep for a specific country but have a different "race" to the player beside them.
Adz Sportz
Roar Guru
No we wouldn't. Jase played for New Zealand. The whole tier 1 ruley thingy's still stand.
Muzzo
Roar Rookie
Well eagle, Australia do stockpile the talent, & emerging talent, with the NRL, Scouts making their annual trek across the ditch, amongst, many known schools, to ' entice ' these young fellas away from their environment. Pity, as now there's a few schools now employing Security Guards, at certain times, to show these ' scouts ' the door.
Divided Loyalties
Roar Rookie
ahhh that's the same kangaroos who are currently ranked fourth in the world - as they should be, after dropping their last international matches to both NZ and Tonga ... The Biggest League match this week is NZ versus Tonga (world number 1 versus number 2) in a sold-out Akld Stadium. Australia has a fair bit of work to do to get back to number 1.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
A coach once told me "never niggle a blood nut"
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Well apart from the clear fact my comment was a joke and it was obvious by the reference to the Warriors being named AUSTRALIA then no its nothing like that at all because to play for Japan in Union ( or any other counrty ) you must reside there for 5 years as a qualification process and once selected you cant change for 3 years after your last selection. Very clear strong difference Pickett.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Yeah maybe you missed the toungue in cheek aspect to it. Maybe the Warriors named as "Australia" slipped past.......
Jojo
Guest
Heritage - becomes a clash of race v race rather that country v country doesn't it? Also, world cup is still a foregone conclusion. Australia will win every match by plenty. 2nd 3rd 4th the unknown
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Your last paragraph is pretty accurate . Sometimes you just can't blame the individual . If big dollars are on offer and it's an opportunity to set up your family I know what I'd do .
Nat
Roar Guru
Yes, after NSW agreed he could play for Qld. They had just won 03, 05 & 05 and decided they didn't need and want him - until they did.
Nat
Roar Guru
That's the thing BD, Aust and NZ can fill their ranks without issue. We are now getting competitive international matches because of the tier system. Even though the concept is still in it's relative infancy Tonga have already become a force and if players like Luai don't make the Aust team, Samoa will be very competitive in a short period of time. The rules are about strengthening the 2nd and 3rd tiers, not pillaging smaller nations to bolster the large ones (as seen in recent times in the other codes).