Well no, which is exactly my point. They couldn't care less about playing internationals. State of Origin is the one that matters there, then the bread and butter of the NRL. That's it.

Well considering the £2k match appearance fee England football players get offered is like offering Joe Public 10p then it’s not really that much of a gesture.

Look at the names of the players.

It’s hardly good old John Smith, ninth generation white Australian, is it?

They are either Tongans or mostly first generation New Zealand or Australia citizens to two Tongan parents.

Glad you think donating £2k to charity isn’t much of a gesture. Before you even try and justify yourself, don’t even bother

Regards

King James

It isn’t the big gesture you make out. Given they earn sums of £50-100k or higher a week and sponsorship deals on top on that then £2k isn’t really any different to Joe Public donation £10 to charity.

Likelihood is you didn’t know just how little the appearance fee was by their earning standards before trying to put them on some pedestal.

Should the King really need to plea to include his country in International Rugby League? For years we have been crying out for another country to become competitive with the 3 tier one nations. It’s outrageous that 1 year on from Tonga’s unbelievable World Cup display, they haven’t managed to arrange a fixture with one of the tier one nations. https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/08/25/kin ... st-happen/

Should the King really need to plea to include his country in International Rugby League? For years we have been crying out for another country to become competitive with the 3 tier one nations. It’s outrageous that 1 year on from Tonga’s unbelievable World Cup display, they haven’t managed to arrange a fixture with one of the tier one nations. https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/08/25/kin ... st-happen/

Been to numerous England games a great event. The RFL needs to build on that and make them even more of an event.

It's a nice gesture and I'm sure the charities are grateful to receive it, but let's not pretend that it's causing the players to have to make much of a sacrifice. I'm sure that many players do far more for charity than that anyway, so it's not a criticism of them.

Says a lot about the players if pulling on the colours of their country means nothing without money.

Should be seeded payments based on the quality of the opposition, attendance projection and the grade importance of the game.

If a game in front of an expected 30000 people isn't financially viable due to the player payment demands, then you have to conclude that those demands are too high. It would be different if we were talking about a game in front of a couple of thousand people. Then I could understand it. But not when it's 30000 - that's a big crowd by international RL standards and by most other sports standards too.

New Zealand v Australia tickets have gone on sale. Still no confirmation whether or not Tonga will get a game.