This whole thing is clearly a diversionary tactic to sneak Paul Sykes in under the radar...

we dont seem to be getting anywhere on this point. age has nothing to do with it, manu only moved to england to take up a sporting contract with a club, he is not english and should not even be considered. end of story, i dont see how you cant seem to understand this.



rlhttps://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1225882487266rl

looks like it wasnt, but it was the nsw selectors who are even more retarded than carr who actually said no to the idea.





assuming you're referring to petero, he plays tests for australia, he made his choice and has stuck with it. fijians have the chance to play for their country. there was a pacific cup last year and they also have played tests v png and samoa. having more tests with full strength teams available would be a good thing.



i dont think they would, we have to play against somebody! other countries should voice their concerns about the amount of power the arl have in the international game.



last year tonga played in a pacific cup, this year they have tests against samoa and possibly png. if you are truly tongan, you would play for tonga. they also had the chance to play in this years 4 nations by winning the pacific cup last year. if there was a one nation policy they could have a chance to build a team over the years in the build up to the world cup but they seem to take the easy option every time and pick players who would be rather playing for someone else and it shows.



the system we have now is a disgrace and does nothing for the long term development of pacific nations. allowing players to pick and choose almost at will is just a quick fix, and the results have showed. by locking players into playing for a nation such as tonga for example gives them an opportunity to build a national team over the years and gives them a clear cut choice in the players they have eligible every year. in the last world cup tonga were a joke. they picked current australian internationals, current nz internationals and pretty much anyone who had a link to tonga and also completely ignored the domestic quota rule and their results showed.



that is ridiculous! playing for your country is the highest level. it seems that you would be happy having 6 teams of australians of different backgrounds pretending to be national teams playing in a world cup. allowing players to play for 2 different countries is the biggest thing holding us back as a sport internationally.

and Petero's dad only moved to Aus because of the economic opportunities it offered. It isnt like young Petero at 1 year old decided that Australia was his cultural and spiritual home.

they both migrated because of economics, one earlier than the other

but it shows the aussies clearly arent above 'that sort of thing'

he personally has said he would have liked to play for Fiji. Jarryd Hayne and Lote Tuqiri did. They then chose Australia because of the greater opportunities it offered

or they could just not play them, its not like they earn loads of cash from them.

like FuiFui MoiMoi, who only came to Australia to take up a sporting contract, who could barely speak the language when he moved, He isnt a true Tongan?
but they wouldnt, they simply wouldnt choose to play for Tonga, people qualified for Tonga wouldnt play for them, they would risk not playing meaningful international RL for their whole career by playing a game or two against 2nd tier nations.

playing for your country should be, unfortunately it isnt. Because if you dont play for England, NZ or Aus, representing your nation means you never test yourself against the best teams in the world.

When was the last time Tonga played one of the big three in a full test match? Samoa? the Cook Islands? outside of the world cup Fiji?

And i'll show my in Wollies window if that happens

no they didnt. petero was raised in australia. manu moved to england on a sporting contract. peteros australian, manus not english. end of story!



possibly true, but as it stands today we havnt had a manu play for australia.



he said he would help out fiji after he has retired from rep footy in australia. hayne played a test match for australia in 2007, and after missing out on the aussie world cup squad he then played for fiji. up until that point he had no idea about his fijian heritage other than his dad was born there. lote played for fiji in the 2000 world cup with the knowledge he would still be able to play origin and for australia. if there was a one nation for life rule he would still be locked into fiji. if that rule forced him to abandon fiji because he wants to play for australia then so be it, its not like fiji really gained anything out of him (and hayne) playing for them for one world cup only and them dropping them as soon as they are good enough for origin and australia.



the international board does, and the players want to play for their country. i would like to see the rfl and nzrl make a stand against the arl and not bow down to their every request. apparently the future rlif board will also have voting members from the newly formed pacific federation and the euro fed.



you do know moi moi grew up and went to school in nz right? of course he could speak the language, he is a shy man and didnt want to face the media so he pretended not to speak english. as for being a true tongan, its up to him i guess but so far he has gone from tonga in 06, to nz in 07, back to tonga in 08 (switching back by taking the rlif to court but not actually playing) and back to nz in 2009. you dont think this makes an absolute mockery of our sport?



then they dont play international rugby league then! playing for a country is a commitment, not something you do because you missed out on playing for another country and just want to compete in a tournament before switching back to the original country you wanted to represent. i understand the frustration of these nations not playing enough meaningful tests and tournaments, this is changing but not quickly enough. it needs to change in the future for the good of our international game.



this is slowly changing through tournaments such as the 4 nations, world cup and pacific cups. more needs to be done though, esecially mid season when australia play origin.



tonga play nz this year, samoa have played full tests v nz the last 2 years both outside of the world cup. fiji have played the odd test v australia over the years and have started playing png annually. this isnt enough, but it is a small start.

well they did.

But anyway how long do you have to live there to be 'raised' there? do you move there at 1? 5? 10? 15? 20? 25?

by your rapidly changing defintion

Yes, he said he wanted to play for Fiji but didnt because of Origin

Speak to someone in Fiji about the incalcuable benefits they got from having a successful team in the 2008 WC,

[iFijian rugby league had already received its greatest ever boost from the team's progress in the competition, with such a rush on satellite dishes to watch this game that there were none left available on the islands. Now they will receive another Aus$300,000 as the reward for reaching the final four of the World Cup, while Ireland's players will console themselves with Aus$75,000 and a host of happy memories for their economy class flight home.[/iwww.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/nov/10/irelandrugbyleagueteam-fijirugbyleagueteam

If Hayne wants to represent Fiji his career and earning potential shouldnt be damaged by it by missing out on things like origin


and the international board can demand what they want, if the ARL dont want to play, they cant force them.

Brian Smith says different.

But no, i dont think it makes a mockery of our sport, im not sure how a person having two different parts of his heritage he wants to represent is a mockery. It happens in all sports,

how is our international game benefiting by having fewer nations playing at a high level and more good players sat at home not playing hoping that they may get a shot at one of the big boys? Why does our international game benefit by having fewer top players playing it, and more lesser players playing at a lower level?

its a very small start, and when we are in position where a player choosing to represent Fiji has the same opportunities as those choosing to play for Australia we can be stricter in the selection criteria