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World All Stars

Messages
11,500
http://m.nrl.com/indigenous-all-stars-to-clash-with-world/tabid/10874/newsid/90755/default.aspx

The game's finest Indigenous players will clash with a new World All Stars team following a revamp of the Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars concept.

NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg announced on Tuesday that next year's match, to be played on February 13 at Suncorp Stadium, will feature the Indigenous All Stars against the newly-termed World All Stars.

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The World All Stars team will feature a minimum of four players each from Australia, New Zealand and England, while the remaining players will be made up from other nations - Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, PNG and France (if available).

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The move follows a review of the annual All Stars match, which has been part of the rugby league calendar since 2010.

Mr Greenberg said the World All Stars team would encourage the players to embrace their countries of heritage.

The Australia, New Zealand and England Captains will be automatic selections for the team, which will be selected by coach Wayne Bennett.

The World All Stars team will include at least one player – and a maximum of two players - from each NRL Club.

"The All Stars game will continue to be an important event on our calendar but this change will ensure it is even more relevant and entertaining," Mr Greenberg said.

"Not only will this move reinvigorate the concept, it will also ensure some of the best players from the best rugby league nations are playing together.

"We have seen in recent years the potential of some of the Pacific nations and this will ensure some of those players are given a chance to celebrate their heritage alongside some of the best players in the world from other nations, as well as the game's finest Indigenous talent.

"We have some incredibly diverse talent in rugby league and the new All Stars side will ensure that talent is showcased.

"Under the new model the game will be bigger and better than ever."

Preston Campbell, the architect of the All Stars concept, joined Mr Greenberg along with World All Stars coach Wayne Bennett in announcing the changes in Brisbane today.

Queensland Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Kate Jones, said the new World All Stars concept would create extra buzz for rugby league fans around the match.

"The Rugby League All Stars match is a fantastic celebration of cultural diversity within rugby league, and is a highlight on the It's Live! In Queensland events calendar," Minister Jones said.

"The Palaszczuk Government is proud to support this event through Tourism and Events Queensland, recognising the important role major events play in promoting a destination, driving visitation, creating jobs and fostering community pride."

David Ackery, Executive Director Harvey Norman Holdings, said Harvey Norman was proud to continue to support the All Stars event.

"Harvey Norman has been involved with All Stars since day one. It is one of our proudest associations and from the beginning we saw it as a testament to the NRL to develop a competition that had everything - celebration of country, game and identity," Mr Ackery said.

"If Grand Final week celebrates the best of the best at the end of each year, then All Stars week welcomes everyone back to showcase the definition of team spirit and cultural pride.

"World All Stars will bring the talent of eight rugby league powerhouse countries onto the same field for the first time."

Tickets to the 2016 Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars match are on sale now. To purchase your tickets, head to

Dont think we have any frenchmen now in the nrl... and I'd rather see born and bread pacific islanders in the team. Also they should have a player (18th man) from an emerginig nation like serbia, south africa or ireland in the squad.
 

insert.pause

First Grade
Messages
6,446
The game's finest Indigenous players will clash with a new World All Stars team following a revamp of the Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars concept.

NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg announced on Tuesday that next year's match, to be played on February 13 at Suncorp Stadium, will feature the Indigenous All Stars against the newly-termed World All Stars.

The World All Stars team will feature a minimum of four players each from Australia, New Zealand and England, while the remaining players will be made up from other nations - Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, PNG and France (if available).

The move follows a review of the annual All Stars match, which has been part of the rugby league calendar since 2010.

Mr Greenberg said the World All Stars team would encourage the players to embrace their countries of heritage.

The Australia, New Zealand and England Captains will be automatic selections for the team, which will be selected by coach Wayne Bennett.

The World All Stars team will include at least one player – and a maximum of two players - from each NRL Club.

"The All Stars game will continue to be an important event on our calendar but this change will ensure it is even more relevant and entertaining," Mr Greenberg said.

"Not only will this move reinvigorate the concept, it will also ensure some of the best players from the best rugby league nations are playing together.

"We have seen in recent years the potential of some of the Pacific nations and this will ensure some of those players are given a chance to celebrate their heritage alongside some of the best players in the world from other nations, as well as the game's finest Indigenous talent.

"We have some incredibly diverse talent in rugby league and the new All Stars side will ensure that talent is showcased.

"Under the new model the game will be bigger and better than ever."

Preston Campbell, the architect of the All Stars concept, joined Mr Greenberg along with World All Stars coach Wayne Bennett in announcing the changes in Brisbane today.

Queensland Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Kate Jones, said the new World All Stars concept would create extra buzz for rugby league fans around the match.

"The Rugby League All Stars match is a fantastic celebration of cultural diversity within rugby league, and is a highlight on the It's Live! In Queensland events calendar," Minister Jones said.

"The Palaszczuk Government is proud to support this event through Tourism and Events Queensland, recognising the important role major events play in promoting a destination, driving visitation, creating jobs and fostering community pride."

David Ackery, Executive Director Harvey Norman Holdings, said Harvey Norman was proud to continue to support the All Stars event.

"Harvey Norman has been involved with All Stars since day one. It is one of our proudest associations and from the beginning we saw it as a testament to the NRL to develop a competition that had everything - celebration of country, game and identity," Mr Ackery said.

"If Grand Final week celebrates the best of the best at the end of each year, then All Stars week welcomes everyone back to showcase the definition of team spirit and cultural pride.

"World All Stars will bring the talent of eight rugby league powerhouse countries onto the same field for the first time."

Tickets to the 2016 Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars match are on sale now. To purchase your tickets, head to www.nrl.com/tickets
http://www.nrl.com/indigenous-all-stars-to-clash-with-world/tabid/10874/newsid/90755/default.aspx
 

madunit

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
62,358
Its a wank

"The World All Stars team will include at least one player – and a maximum of two players - from each NRL Club."

Its just a dumb stipulation.

It should contain only one player from any nation. and a total of 9 from Southern Hemisphere and 9 from Northern. Must also include at least 1 player from each continent.

Make it a proper World All Stars team.
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
151,416
Seems a bit lop sided having the top 3 teams playing the crap teams and all rather discriminatory.
 

pHyR3

Juniors
Messages
955
looks great!! but i dont like the 1 from each NRL club rule.

I want ESL players, and less restrictions on that kinda crap. The whole '4 from oz, nz, england and rest from PNG, samoa etc.' is a great concept though.

make it a true world all stars but constrain their quality a bit by requring more from developing nations. Would be stupid to see essentially NZ + England + non indig Aus vs indig aus, way too imbalanced
 

Danish

Referee
Messages
31,948
Does the English players include super league players?


It states the English captain will be an automatic selection, so unless he is playing in the NRL then it would have to.

I would much rather than use the Auckland 9s as the base comp for these sorts of concepts. Have an indigenous team, and U20s all stars team, the winners of the NSW and QLD cups, and maybe even some invitational sides from the ESL if they are keen. Hell you could extend an offer to non-test playing nations to enter a side as well.

Basically just make it like the old 7s tournament that everyone used to love.
 

DlEHARD

Juniors
Messages
823
I'm a lot more excited by a World All Stars. I'd love to see the British players down under, and also French.

It'd love to buy the jersey.

Surely the concept has legs, especially in the face of all the turmoil in AFL about indigenous players. We can put our best food forward here and it demands the support of all RL fans.
 

JAMES_FOO

Juniors
Messages
97
The 9s are NZs thing, no use Australia having one too. The all stars game is a good warm up, going to be a lot harder for the all stars team to gel with such a player mixture. Its always entertaining.
 

DiegoNT

First Grade
Messages
9,378
It's actually not meaningless to the aboriginal community or the aboriginal players. It also follows a week off amazing community work. At the very least it's an entertaining way to welcome the new season in.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
66,702
I flew across to watch the game a couple of years ago. Was a great event, great cultural recognition and a decent game of footy. We do love to run down our successes in RL!

I'll be amazed if any SL players are allowed to take part, I suspect that Greenburg thinks James Graham is England capt!!
 
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