Nigel Vagana Quote: Right now, footballers who make themselves eligible for Australia can earn around $20,000 extra a year playing Origin footy. And there's talk of that rising to $50,000. ""Right now, footballers who make themselves eligible for Australia can earn around $20,000 extra a year playing Origin footy. And there's talk of that rising to $50,000." "But if they stick with New Zealand, it's nothing. Zero. So while Origin footy is supposed to be all about passion, for a lot of (Polynesian) players it's being seen as a sound business decision, a way to better provide for their families. It threatens the future of international footy'" He has a good point, it must be hard for someone from New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, PNG etc or even the UK, to choose to represent their home country over Aus, when they could be wiping tens of thousands of $'s off their salary by not being allowed to play origin for it. The simple answer would be to allow players to represent other countries, but play origin if the have lived in QLD/NSW for 3 years or something. Im struggling to see an argument against this? Why wont they let it happen? It would make the origin games even better than they currently are as it would be the best players in the world not just the best players available for Aus. Quote: Right now, footballers who make themselves eligible for Australia can earn around $20,000 extra a year playing Origin footy. And there's talk of that rising to $50,000. "Vagana is also pushing for the establishment of a two-tier structure that would allow Test players from Australia, New Zealand and England (all Tier One nations) to represent emerging countries if not selected for their first choice. '" Also an interesting point, it would make the smaller nations stronger. Brough to play for Scotland if not selected for England, the same with Wigans Irish hooker etc www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 6381407957

Nigel Vagana Quote: Right now, footballers who make themselves eligible for Australia can earn around $20,000 extra a year playing Origin footy. And there's talk of that rising to $50,000. ""Right now, footballers who make themselves eligible for Australia can earn around $20,000 extra a year playing Origin footy. And there's talk of that rising to $50,000." "But if they stick with New Zealand, it's nothing. Zero. So while Origin footy is supposed to be all about passion, for a lot of (Polynesian) players it's being seen as a sound business decision, a way to better provide for their families. It threatens the future of international footy'" He has a good point, it must be hard for someone from New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, PNG etc or even the UK, to choose to represent their home country over Aus, when they could be wiping tens of thousands of $'s off their salary by not being allowed to play origin for it. The simple answer would be to allow players to represent other countries, but play origin if the have lived in QLD/NSW for 3 years or something. Im struggling to see an argument against this? Why wont they let it happen? It would make the origin games even better than they currently are as it would be the best players in the world not just the best players available for Aus. Quote: Right now, footballers who make themselves eligible for Australia can earn around $20,000 extra a year playing Origin footy. And there's talk of that rising to $50,000. "Vagana is also pushing for the establishment of a two-tier structure that would allow Test players from Australia, New Zealand and England (all Tier One nations) to represent emerging countries if not selected for their first choice. '" Also an interesting point, it would make the smaller nations stronger. Brough to play for Scotland if not selected for England, the same with Wigans Irish hooker etc www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 6381407957

i've been saying that players in australia should be allowed to play for QLD/NSW & tonga,fiji,pgn,samoa etc for years..


the reason this won't ever happen is because 60-70% of the kids in the under 20's have pacific/islander heritage and by allowing them to play origin and for a island nation it would dramatically impact the talent pool the kangaroos have to select from......


another factor is the fact that the pacific island nations don't play internationals....you can count the number of competitive internationals fiji,tonga & samoa have played since the 2008 world cup on ONE HAND....wales,scotland & ireland by comparison play more competitive games each season than the pacific islander will have managed in 5 years..


as for vagana's comment...what a clown....there should be a 1 tier structure & 1nation for life

The tier one situation used to exist here to a certain extent with tier one being GB and tier two being the home nations, but I can't see how that could be implemented between the Aussies and islanders.

Allowing other nationalities to play Origin would defeat the original premise of it being a Test trial, even if that doesn't exactly seem number one priority any more.

There was an article last week claiming origin is even killing the NRL

Maybe they should come to some sort of compromise, like allow each state to play 3 or 4 players who arent eligible for Aus

No they shouldn't, Nz starting their own origin will help.

Point 1 - He's right. Origin is killing international RL over there. Possible solution would need to be to get the other nations involved in their own 3-match series so they can keep their players. We've got our international origin series over here that does a trick. Why not NZ vs the Pacific Isles 3 test series at the same time as origin? Build it up. Play it in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. It will build the Kiwi brand as well as give the PI nations' players a cash boost that may keep them from playing for Austin or NZ.

Point 2 - I think the two tier system is a better idea than the perennial nation switching situation that we have now. However, there needs to be a better descriptor for who are tier 1 and who are tier 2, and how you can go from tier 2 to tier 1, rather than just picking some nations because of history and tradition.

I don't understand why players can't play for one state and another nation that isn't Australia.

I think i'm right in saying Jarryd Hayne's dad is from Fiji and his mum is from NSW. So Hayne is a Fijian AND a New South Welshman. So why can't he represent both?

Fiji could effectively play Hayne, Uate, Civoniceva and Tuqiri but don't mainly because
A) they don't play that often but even it they did because of
B) State of Origin rules.

Been saying this for ages. Apparently Sam Burgess is now eligible to declare dual nationality and play in Origin for NSW next season but has declined to do so because it would make him ineligible for England. If the money keeps getting upped though he could eventually be tempted, although I'm not sure how well a pommie playing Origin would go down in Oz, regardless of how good he is

If you want to play origin you play for Australia, it's a Australian trial game!

Maybe so but the problem is you dont have to be Australian to play Origin. Australia cherry-pick the best talent from the South Sea Islands by dangling the Origin carrot, which weakens the international game as a whole. That's Vagana's point. Although to be fair Vagana did play for New Zealand despite being from Samoa so it's a little rich coming from him!

No it isn't.

Origin has never been a trial game or series to determine who is selected for Australia.

Where did the concept come from?

Danila Anderson has spoken/writen about the ins and out of teh tier structure, could offer International RL a real shot in the arm. Especially between World Cups.

What are you on about? Aside from uate, who should still be playing for Fiji and not for nsw/Australia (despite the fact he had never played rugby league before emigrating to aus), who have Australia cherry picked from the south sea islands. Every single national team has players born and/or raised in Australia, yet Australia weakens international rugby league? How does that work?

It's very rich coming from vagana considering that NZ are the worst nation when it comes to "cherry picking" other nations players. The most recent player is a young kid from the warriors in Konrad hurrell who is going to be a superstar. He moved from tonga to NZ 3 years ago on a rugby union scholarship before taking up rugby league and has already stated he wants to play for the kiwis. NZ are the biggest hypocrits of all!

All that needs to happen is a fairer schedule of meaningful test matches and rep games for all nations both mid year and post season and a one country for life rule and we are well on our way to reaching our potential as an international sport. Vaganas two tier system is ridiculous and will ensure that these national teams are packed full of players who would drop them for aus or NZ as soon as they are good enough. Players must commit to the nation, not play when they don't make their first choice. Leave origin to Australians as it is, other countries should be giving players with dual nationality the choice to make the decision and stick to it!