Quote JB Down Under="JB Down Under"Because at 18 you can play academy and U20's for that country, 23 you are making 1st grade plus at 18 you are young and impetus where as by 23 if you are breaking into 1st grade you hopefully are a bit more mature and can make a decision based on where you see your future being in terms of the country you live in and the nationality you want to represent.'"
Won't that just give Australia more time to cherry pick the best non-Australians they want i.e. after they've seen them play first grade for 2-3 years those that make it are courted by Australia there and then? Besides if you're old enough to get married, have sex, bring up a family and vote you are old enough to choose your international team. All this later swapping and changing is not done for the good of the game, it's done to satisfy egos, gloryhunting, increase chances of winning and make money i.e. greed, and I'm not sure we should be prioritising that. It's a way of trying to create a better spectacle for Origin (or Australia) at the expense of the game's infrastructure. I think we should try and have a bit more integrity than that (some may say I'm about to contradict that in the next para).
I don't have an issue with residency rules if you haven't been selected before to represent another country at any level prior. That should be a given because you can become a citizen of said country. If you have prior selection for a country (Up to U18s) I can see a case for changing being allowed but if you have played above U18s I don't think changing should be allowed (although I understand the case for supporting emerging nations and I would back an initiative that facilitated that). Going from NZ to Australia, England to Australia, Australia to England etc though is unacceptable.
