Brad Fittler claims widening State of Origin eligibility rules to include Australian-raised New Zealand and England players will benefit both the domestic and international game.
Crucial decisions loom on both the domestic and global front in the coming months, with both Origin eligibility rules and the tiered international system up for discussion.
The International Rugby League has indicated they will not change Samoa’s status to tier-one from tier-two, meaning several big-name stars will remain eligible for Origin.
While the Pacific Nation made their first World Cup final this month, the determination between tiers is centred around each country’s domestic game and infrastructure.
Under current Origin rules, players who represent tier-two nations are free to play for NSW or Queensland if they were born or lived there before age 13.
However, those who represent either New Zealand or England – as the other tier-one nations – are automatically ineligible.
Fittler sees the decision to keep Samoa as tier-two – allowing the likes of Jarome Luai, Brian To’o and Junior Paulo – to continue playing Origin as commonsense.
But he is adamant the ARL Commission should allow those who play for New Zealand or England to play Origin, opening the door for the likes of Victor Radley to play for NSW and Jordan Rapana for Queensland.
“For both games to flourish, if you (play) in NSW or Queensland or at a certain age then you should be able to play for NSW or Queensland,” Fittler said.
“It’s simple. What you do with international football, probably needs a little more detail.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
“But at the end of the day, State of Origin should be for people born or lived in NSW or Queensland, before the age of 13.”
At the core of it, Fittler claims players should not be punished for wanting to represent their family’s heritage.
“Sebastian Kris has played for New Zealand, he has played for NSW since he was 15,” Fittler said.
“Reimis Smith has played for New Zealand, he has grown up in NSW since he was a baby.
“I wonder why these players don’t have the chance to play for NSW because of the heritage of their father, while also getting the ability to play international football.”
But beyond that, he claims it would strengthen the Origin concept while also continuing to make the World Cup more competitive.
“Of course (it makes Origin stronger), you have more players to choose from,” Fittler said.
“What happens is when you play State of Origin it is a more intense game. You take that experience and you take it to another game.
“So every game you play at a higher level you learn from that experience.
“Hopefully you take some calm and some control and be better at it next time it comes.”
The Barry
Roar Guru
Thought you had “far, far, far, far more important issues” to think and care about… …or did you manage to work out if Gillian ever got off the island…
sheek
Roar Guru
C'mon Barry, you're having a 'Crocker'. :laughing:
Gus O
Roar Rookie
I agree. Seems fair. And Fittler’s is an easier fix than leaving the SOO eligibility rule unchanged and it interfering with the politics of elevating Samoa and Tonga to tier 1 status.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yet you’re still here banging on…
sheek
Roar Guru
The Barry, Good for you. I'll leave it you & the other goons to carry on your convoluted, pretentious ideas. There's far, far, far, far more important issues to think & care about than the triviality of international rugby league or minuscule state of origin.
The Barry
Roar Guru
If you don’t want to discuss it and don’t care why do you keep jumping on here wailing like a banshee every time the subject is raised The grandparent heritage rule is in place in soccer as well and plenty of teams including Australia have multiple players that weren’t born in the country they’re representing “we won’t be able to call ourselves a true sporting nation until we can develop a team (both men & women) good enough to win the FIFA World Cup” WTF does that even mean? It’s more of your on the spot, invent yourself own rules BS that you regularly come up with I don’t have a problem with anyone having a different opinion, but yours is so ill informed
sheek
Roar Guru
The Barry, The discussions about rugby league eligibility, whether international or state, are rendered useless & meaningless in the face of the true world game presently underway, the 2022 FIFA world cup. It simply reinforces the reality that rugby league is an international joke, now also turning itself into a state joke. Rugby union is better internationally, but not so much better it has any reason to be smug. I guess I’ll leave it to the diehard rugby league fans to enjoy their varying convoluted teams, be it Australia, Samoa, England, Tonga, NZ or Fiji, etc, being biggish fish in a very small pool. While Australia has enjoyed significant success across a range of sports over a century or more, eg, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, various sports at Olympics level, we won’t be able to call ourselves a true sporting nation until we can develop a team (both men & women) good enough to win the FIFA world cup. Rugby league & rugby union dominance, even cricket supremacy, it’s all small fry by comparison. Only the degree of international insignificance varies. As for Australian football, sadly we can never know how good those athletes are, because they never get to test themselves against other countries. I’m kinda embarrassed to further discuss the pathetic state of international or now the state of origin eligibility of rugby league players. To what purpose? It is totally irrelevant to the bigger picture of the world.
Redcap
Roar Guru
It's like having a parrot with absolutely no conception of pith.
The Barry
Roar Guru
For sure. This has been happening for a couple of years with players playing Origin and turning out for tier 2 nations and barely a whisper. As soon as a tier 2 nation has a bit of success (which of course is the whole point of the exercise) and people are up in arms. Why that should be is a more interesting question for me than the eligibility laws
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yep. Anyone banging on with the “origin is an Australian trial” argument is showing they don’t know what they’re on about There are plenty of players who have been picked to play for Australia before they’ve played an origin game and plenty of players who’ve outplayed their opponent in Origin yet not been selected to play for Australia
theHunter
Guest
Why does it have to be State of Origin? Introduce more test matches between the Nation's so they get stronger too and have more experience with each other. Maintain State of Origin but have Test Matches during the same period. If the Tier 2 Nation's and their player's are serious about playing for their heritage then they can skip SOO altogether. If they still want to play in SOO then they lose their eligibility for their heritage. This makes it easier and the ones who really desire to play for Kangaroos can be the only ones playing in the SOO.
London Panther
Roar Rookie
I really don’t get it. Is there really a problem with Origin eligibility? No one was complaining about the Origin teams at Origin time. Radley could have been picked but wasn’t (as has been the case for about 4 years now). Mal showed the SoO isn’t a Kangaroo selection trial by doing his job and picking what he thought was the best team. Lots of hand-wringing on this and other forums. Thank god the cricket starts tomorrow…
HR
Guest
Yup, great point, TB. For me, whenever someone points to the history of Origin and how it's always been a series of matches to be selected for Australia and you've got to hold true to your state blah blah blah, I always counter with a) The ANZAC test precedes any origin match in a year...how can these players be selected for their country before any origin selection match? Gasp! b) JAC played for Australia without playing origin this year. Oh no! Exile him! Exile him! c) City v Country was meant to be a selection game for NSW until it just stopped being one. d) Artie Beetson played more games for NSW than he did Qld...proof that this contest evolves.
The Barry
Roar Guru
No, just the ones that meet the eligibility criteria and are good enough… same as it ever was…
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yep agreed The tier 2 nation / Origin eligibility rules have been in place for years In that time Origin hasn’t been impacted one iota, while the benefits for test footy have been huge - to the point we’ve seen a tier 2 nation make a World Cup final Origin eligibility laws have never been clearer or as well defined. At international level there is a grandparent heritage rule which pretty much every international sport has in place The game has gained a lot and given up nothing to get to this point I think that’s best summarised by the anti arguments being heavy on emotions and lightweight on logic
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
This stems from the Commentators and Journalists (loosely used term) not bothering to even attempt to understand the actual rules. This rings true for Origin and the actual game, until Fox stop talking about something on one of their panel shows and then reporting it as news in another format nothing will improve. I can't see to much wrong with the current rules and the gradual evolution will always happen :thumbup:
The Barry
Roar Guru
The irony of comments like these is that the Origin eligibility laws have never been more clearly defined than they are now. Absolutely nothing has been blown up…
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Well, if you can get 14 - 15 cleared, throw the Blue 6 jersey to Joey Manu and the 10 to Fisher Harris.
sheek
Roar Guru
Matth, Congrats, give them all a prize.
HR
Guest
Dunno TB, I think you'll find Sheek was in the room in the 70's and was the board secretariat and noted the exact intentions of state of origin... How else could he say this with such conviction?