The rules apply to both teams, and are in place because of ridiculous selections like Greg Inglis playing for QLD, and James Tamou playing for NSW. THe new rules are an improvement, but at the end of the day the only way you will remove the grey area is if you live up to the name and make the game strictly State of ORIGIN. You play for the state you were born in, or not at all.
Sure we would have missed out on some greats over the years. But the game wouldn't be the farce that it is today either. It makes absolutely zero sense to make a game called State of ORIGIN, and then have a million different rules and technicalities for eligibility when only one is needed.
Both teams are guilty of ridiculous selections. Hence the current rules that apply to both teams. The current rules aren't one state trying to cheat and prevent players like Keary from representing their state of birth, they are to prevent ridiculous selections like a NSW born and bred Greg Inglis playing for Queensland, and a Kiwi who has lived in the country for 5 minutes from representing NSW.
But everytime you get technical with the rules to prevent previous cases from happening again, you will create one that has odd effects like it did here. Only one way to prevent these things, and that's to have it 100% black and white. Play for where you were born, or not at all. I guarantee that 90% of players who happily play for the other state and love it just as much... afterall both states pay $30k for an appearance and that's what the players care about most.
