I will not be silent about this

[gyallop]

Exactly. Pick the full time pros, pick the strong Queensland Cup players, pick the American Union players if you have to, but ringing in blokes from local Aussie park footy competitions is ridiculous. There are 5 or 6 players who have no business being in that squad and could easily be replaced by Americans with little to no loss in terms of what they will contribute on the field.

TBH, even if management won't do the right thing I wonder how the selected players feel about this. I know if I was called up to represent a nation I'd never been to on a tenuous link and was depriving a local player of similar ability a spot I'd feel kind of shitty, but I guess that's just me.

Edit: Quotes from Matt Elliott in this article about how domestic players are a must: http://www.amnrl.com/news/tomahawks-train-squad-

Who are your six?

 

[Evil Homer]

Who are your six?

Any Aussies playing below Queensland/NSW Cup standard. According to Wikipedia there are 5 in the squad, although I don't know how accurate that is. Replace those 5 with AMNRL/USARL players and everyone would be happy.

 

[Jimmyson/Mullins]

Agreed...Maybe a few will mysteriously pull out with injury if the backlash is big enough...

 

[gyallop]

I hear what you say but do they pick the best squad or the politically correct squad. Does England pick 12 lancashiremen and 12 yorkshiremen or the best 24...maybe not be the best analogy but you get the point. There's 10 USA born players so that is awesome and probably betters some others. I cant recall the up roar when a team loaded with heritage players got them into the RLWC.
Bottom line is its a merit team playing in the ultimate league event not a development/reward for past efforts event and if you arent good enough work harder so they have no choice but to pick you.

 

[Jimmyson/Mullins]

That the problem many were good enough and actually American!

 

[deal.with.it]

David Niu said on Twitter that Axemen coach Brent Shorten told selectors that Apple Pope wasn't good enough for the WC team.

 

[deluded pom?]

I don't know about the USA being spoon favourites but if that twitter quote by Niu is anything to go by he has a huge spoon of his own and isn't slow to use it.

 

[league13]

David Niu said on Twitter that Axemen coach Brent Shorten told selectors that Apple Pope wasn't good enough for the WC team.

Could you really believe anything that Nui said?

 

[Evil Homer]

I hear what you say but do they pick the best squad or the politically correct squad. Does England pick 12 lancashiremen and 12 yorkshiremen or the best 24...maybe not be the best analogy but you get the point. There's 10 USA born players so that is awesome and probably betters some others. I cant recall the up roar when a team loaded with heritage players got them into the RLWC.
Bottom line is its a merit team playing in the ultimate league event not a development/reward for past efforts event and if you arent good enough work harder so they have no choice but to pick you.

I think the point is that a lot of the American players feel like they won't be selected no matter how good they are, because they aren't Australian. Which for the American national team is a joke. I understand the need for a strong squad, I've supported Italy's selection of heritage players, but I don't feel that some of the overseas players in the American squad are of sufficient quality to justify leaving out the legit American players. Like I said, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt USA's chances at all to have 3-4 AMNRL/USARL players as part of the squad even if they didn't all end up taking to the field. It just seems like the domestic players have been dismissed out of hand, and after using them heavily in the build-up, playing multiple Colonial Cup games etc I can see why they would take it as an insult.

 

[Craigo]

But WHO actually chose the squad?

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

A guy from Brisbane.

 

[deluded pom?]

A guy from Brisbane.

Many a true word spoken in jest.

 

[deluded pom?]

Maybe Niu has gone for the scorched earth strategy?

 

[Hindyscrack]

A guy from Brisbane.

And there's your issue.

 

[gyallop]

As best I can see there is at least 4 Garvey Freed Offerdahl Farley and Tagaloa isnt there?
Dont know Durutalo???

 

[RedVee]

Why the RU players? Is that part of the deal when the AMNArL were sold off, bring the Rugbys closer ?
Why play the extra Colonial Cup games, which I would assume would have been a bonus for team familiarity - to then abandon those players ?
Is Clint Newton being counted as 'American born'? In RL terms he doesn't have much US experience.
Who is the coach now?

I am happy for the US to pick heritage players that will improve their team, but this team flies in the face of recent moves that hinted at reconciliation.

 

[deal.with.it]

Its funny, this team has ended up being neither a amnrl or usarl team.
Its just Steve Johnson's squad of aus based heritage players.
It does not show the development of the sport in the usa at all.

 

[girvie]

How many qualify through American Samoa heritage only?

Is a player with heritage from American Samoa also eligible for Samoa?

 

[girvie]

So looking at the squad there are 11 who were in the squad for the qualifiers (back in 2011): Cantoni, Garvey, Howard, Howard, Marando, McGoldrick, Offerdahl, Paulo, Paulo and Peterson.

Of the remaining 14 players it appears that there are 7 who are from American domestic competitions (Durutalo, Farley, Freed, Hume, Priestly, Soloaia, Tagaloa), and 6 who have NRL/NSW Cup or Qld Cup experience (Newton, Luani, Hifo, Lavulo, Faraimo, Samoa). The one remaining player is Matt Shipway from the Newcastle comp. It would be interesting to know a little bit more about how he qualifies.

To me this seams a reasonably spread of local and heritage players, including a number of the heritage players who have represented the USA previously.

This would mean that at as a maximum there are 8 players from American domestic competitions (Offerdahl plus the 7 listed above), plus another in Garvey who came from the domestic comp and is now playing in Australia.

It has been mentioned in the thread that some of the 'domestic' players are from union. It would be disappointing if they have been selected without playing league.

 

[pennpool]

What surprises me most is how surprised most people are about the selection.

I do, however, have an issue with the rugby Union players being picked over the likes of Pope, Cunz, Wiggins and the Clarke brothers. That really is sh1tty. Those mentioned have played many a game and put much effort into trying to secure a place. I feel for them.

As for the "local players" (loose terminology, at best, right there), I think only four currently play in the domestic league comp. I'm not sure if Hulme has played league at all for the last two seasons, I may be wrong though, it happens on occasion.

Regardless, it's just surprising that people were not expecting this.

I'm sure, after the World Cup, some wholesale changes are in the works and the rebuilding, again, of rugby league in America can begin.

Unfortunately now for many involved in the game, it would appear the last half a decade has been a fruitless waist of valuable time.

Lets hope prevailing minds have a fresh idea and a solid game plan going forward. Lets hope that the future powers that be aren't obsessed with a not so accessible pot of gold at the end of an ever fading rainbow. Lets hope the future powers that be can focus on development and geographical consolidation and making the league(s) a viable entity.