Jonathan Thurston is aboriginal (look at his mouthguard it's the aboriginal flag colours) just like the kiwi fullback Brett Webb!!!  But I agree Tonga, Fiji and Samoa should merge as the Pacific Islands and play in the tri nations they would be a force but I could imagine the admin of each country fighting each other for control.

southernhemisphere:

Faasavalu born,bred & played for samoa!

The thing is, Im not having a go at you, its just that people come on here saying "Samoa should be called NZ b" But the fact is that these players played for samoa 1st! The Nz team should be called Pacific Nations even Australia should be called PI. Willie Mason, Brent Kite, Israel Folau, Willie Toga, Are all tongans......... Jonathan Thurston, Tony Carol, Karl Michael Hunt are Maori............................. petro civoniceva is Fijian......................

 

all the players you have mentioned are australian. who are you to say that they arent australian. some were born elsewhere, but all grew up in australia, first played rugby league in australia and will live here their whole life. why shouldnt they play for their country? also, mason, kite, tonga, thurston all have an australian parent, does that somehow get overruled by their other parent who was born elsewhere?

uncle keith:

But I agree Tonga, Fiji and Samoa should merge as the Pacific Islands and play in the tri nations they would be a force but I could imagine the admin of each country fighting each other for control.

I hate that 'Pacific Island' team concept. Why should the 3 nations merge into one? There are enough talented players of pacifican descent who can bolster each island nation and therefore be competitive in the international arena.

Mr Hutch

              Research buddy! The Pacific Island players in the Australian team Played for their PI nations 1st!

Tony Carol played for NZ 1st, Thurston is Maori/*** not Australian Karl Michael Hunt is Full Blooded Maori! Do youre home work mate....

 

southernhemisphere:

Mr Hutch

              Research buddy! The Pacific Island players in the Australian team Played for their PI nations 1st!

Tony Carol played for NZ 1st, Thurston is Maori/*** not Australian Karl Michael Hunt is Full Blooded Maori! Do youre home work mate....

 

on the topic of reaserch,

K Hunt is part cook is part samoan

and tony carroll only played for NZ in the 2000 WC because he knew he could still play origin, as the rules were relaxed in 2000
 

City and Country 2nd string rep teams would flog tonga, fiji and Samoa by themselves.  Maybe to have a more even playing field Australia should split up into NSW City/Country, Qld City/Country teams for the world cup sad part is we would still belt NZ and England as well :) 

uncle keith:

City and Country 2nd string rep teams would flog tonga, fiji and Samoa by themselves.  Maybe to have a more even playing field Australia should split up into NSW City/Country, Qld City/Country teams for the world cup sad part is we would still belt NZ and England as well :) 

 

oh dear!... ...someone call a doctor!!

southernhemisphere:

Mr Hutch

              Research buddy! The Pacific Island players in the Australian team Played for their PI nations 1st!

Tony Carol played for NZ 1st, Thurston is Maori/*** not Australian Karl Michael Hunt is Full Blooded Maori! Do youre home work mate....

 

actually buddy, i have done my research. im willing to bet i know far more about international rugby league and its players than you. im well aware that some of those players you mentioned played for pi countries during the 2000 world cup. they did this with the blessing from the arl/rlif that it would not affecttheir origin and australian test ambitions. it is ridiculous that this was allowed to happen, but it shows the attitude of the arl back then and even still today that they were obsessed with competitive teams, not genuine national teams. of course they should not have been allowed to switch countries so easily, but the reality is that none of them would have played for any country other than australia if they werent allowed to switch.

im well aware that thurstons ethnic background is maori and aboriginal, i did not dispute this. but he is an australian. karmichael hunts ethnic background is samoan/ cook islander (you should have done your home work mate). yes i know he moved to australia aged 11, but he is proud to play for australia, has grown up here and sings the anthem with pride. he has never wanted to play for any other country, first played rugby league here, moved through the grades, played aussie schoolboys and will live here the rest of his life. he is just as aussie as any of us, who are you to tell him that he is not. there are players with family backgrounds from all over the world playing for the kangaroos, but they are all australian.

I knew someone would bite!!!!

They need to be flexible with the eligibility laws because its the only way they can get a (almost) level playing field. Strict enforcement of eligibility rules in sports like... soccer... sorry football, is necessary because they have a stronger player base and just about any team can beat any of the supposed giants. Thats just not possible in league - especially if they clamp down on eligibility.

I love league and I say so what if players jump from one country to another every year - at least we get smaller nations increasing their chances against higher ranked teams.

If they do come down hard on the eligibility rule then perhaps the World Cup should be for the top three and the winner of a pre-world cup tournament - that way there's only four countries... just a suggestion.

Uncle Keith

              Im 100% australian, Born & bred..... These guys should play for their own country. Make the game more interesting! Im sick of seeing Australia dominate all the time. The only way for the poms to win is if they use Great Britain (4 countries) Nz keeps taking the Island boys & Now Australia? come on get keep it real! At the moment Rugby Union is kicking Leagues ass..... The fact is,In rugby anyone can win not just the AllBlacks!

To play for a country, You should be born ,Bred & youre parents are australians! League is dieing, The only league i watch is the NRL & Origin... International should Top both but it doesnt....

GB comeon, they won against the kiwis & whats the population in NZ 4 million compared to Australia & GB.... 20 - 80 million.

I could tell you this, If Samoa, Fiji, Tonga had all there players league will be more interesting to watch in international level!

Just wanting a better International Rugby league comp, Thats all!

apiakid:

They need to be flexible with the eligibility laws because its the only way they can get a (almost) level playing field...

What is this unhealthy fascination with a level playing field? Why do we need a level playing field. Teams should have an equal opportunity to have all legally eligible players but if they arent upto say Australias standard its upto them to get there. All the RLIF needs to do in essence is provide an opportunity for these teams to develop, i.e. have regular meaningful tournaments.

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southernhemisphere:

              Im 100% australian, Born & bred..... These guys should play for their own country. Make the game more interesting! Im sick of seeing Australia dominate all the time. The only way for the poms to win is if they use Great Britain (4 countries) Nz keeps taking the Island boys & Now Australia? come on get keep it real! At the moment Rugby Union is kicking Leagues ass..... The fact is,In rugby anyone can win not just the AllBlacks!

Australia is unfortunately the victim of its own success. They have dominated for 30 years, in Union the Wallabies only dominated for 3... get over it. Its upto everyone else to reach the bar that has been set. The Kiwis and PNG have shown recently that it's not an unreachable bar either. Its funny how for the 4 years inbetwenn the RUWC everyone complains of NZ pasting everyone and then they loose one game and all of a suden its OK. You cant have it both ways. If England or NZ win next year what will you be saying then?

southernhemisphere:

To play for a country, You should be born ,Bred & youre parents are australians! League is dieing, The only league i watch is the NRL & Origin... International should Top both but it doesnt....

Mate... read what you wrote. Tell that to 3/4 of the all black team and most of the other teams that were in the WC. Isaw a whole bunch of white guys running around for Japan, PI's for the USA and Kiwis for Wales and ireland. Portugaul had a bunch of ex french in there as well I think. So it applied not just to league. You are right International should top off the domestic games, and I feel quality wise it does, its just that selling of the NRL is much better than the International games. I wish RL had the bull$hit spin doctors that the IRB has, man imagain what they could do with an exciting game not the rubbish that's dished out at the moment in Union. League is not dying, it has it market that it always has had, It may grow, and is growin, I doubt it will reduce. the growth is not massive and RL never claims it to be, unlike RU.

 

southernhemisphere:

GB comeon, they won against the kiwis & whats the population in NZ 4 million compared to Australia & GB.... 20 - 80 million.

Whats your point? Last year NZ beat GB. Next year they may beat Australia... same logic applies to RU, you seem to be a Union man, NZ can beat England and France ~52 million (Germany has about 80 million and is the second most populace country in Europe). You fail to remember that the only way that in Union you had the British and Irish lions that had a 150 year strangle hold over the Kiwis and Aussies. 

southernhemisphere:

I could tell you this, If Samoa, Fiji, Tonga had all there players league will be more interesting to watch in international level!

Yes it would... thus we need to give them the opportunities to develop and play more elite games than token games evey four years. The thing is these teams play regularaly each year in Australia and new Zealand with all their top stars that can qualify, you can go and see your interesting games, but I bet you didn't and wont, you'd rather sit and complain. Your comment also applies to RU.

southernhemisphere:

Just wanting a better International Rugby league comp, Thats all!

We all want that, you just need to get out there and do something about it, i.e. go to the games and support the teams. Make it worth their while and yours.

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rite first thing frank puletua has never been a kiwi only tony and neither has willie swann ok catalanc and i think that these players pick to play for NZ or OZ because there has been a real lack of international league in the last 7 years and the only ones that have had games is NZ,OZ,GB so these guys want to play at the highest level now that these players have stated they want to play for samoa or tonga it s up to theses countries to have international games every year to keep theses players from wanting to play for NZ,OZ .but alot of theses guys are nz born samoans and tongans or OZ born samoans and tongans so that tells me they are classed and kiwis and ozzies both our countries are very large polynesian communities and you will see more of them in our sports teams .

the biggest farce of all is the 3 year residential rule as it has been used by the kiwis to use australian warriors players such as webb and soon to be fein to play for that country.  I believe a samoan or kiwi just played for great britian under that rule as well.  It's a negative on the game.  Also the grand parent rule in both rugby codes should be scrapped for test playing nations.  As for emerging nations I think there should be a cap on how many ring ins they can use and over the years of that teams participation the number decreases until they can fully support themselves.  If Lebanon was not in the last world cup filled with mostly Australian Lebanese then a domestic competition in that country would never had started.