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New Zealander/Queenslander

titoelcolombiano

First Grade
Messages
5,276
Cheika is kidding himself right?

NRL v Super Rugby
SOO & Kangaroos v Wobblies

lol

I mean, Union has a chance at him if the All Blacks get involved but Cheika is seriously dreaming if he thinks the Wallabies is a drawcard for Ponga.
 

Walter sobchak

First Grade
Messages
5,845
Cheika is kidding himself right?

NRL v Super Rugby
SOO & Kangaroos v Wobblies

lol

I mean, Union has a chance at him if the All Blacks get involved but Cheika is seriously dreaming if he thinks the Wallabies is a drawcard for Ponga.
I think the draw card would be the chance to travel the world and play in front of 70,000-80,000 people in Paris, London, Dublin, Rome and buenos Aries etc instead of playing in Brisbane then Sydney then Brisbane then Sydney and Brisbane again during state of origin.
 

titoelcolombiano

First Grade
Messages
5,276
I think the draw card would be the chance to travel the world and play in front of 70,000-80,000 people in Paris, London, Dublin, Rome and buenos Aries etc instead of playing in Brisbane then Sydney then Brisbane then Sydney and Brisbane again during state of origin.

I see what you mean but doing that in a winning team is much more enjoyable.

International RL is increasingly being played in iconic venues in front of big crowds too these days. Think Wembly for the 2013 RLWC semi finals, Anfield and Old Trafford for the 4 nations and world cup finals, Eden Park at the end of the year, we had a decent turnout for the Denver test and places like Mt Smart for a Tonga game and Port Moresby for a PNG game are special sporting experiences that are hard to match anywhere. Add to that Origin at a very near sold out MCG, sold out Perth next week and no doubt a sold out Adelaide Oval next year. This will only increase too now that RL has a proper international calendar set in place for the next 10 years.

I honestly think we offer enough big stages for our stars to play on moving forward to combat the old 'play union to see the world, play league to see campbeltown' adage.
 

Matua

Bench
Messages
4,530
I think there's zero chance of him playing for Australia if he switches to rugby. He's spoken on a number of Maori tv/vid shows about the ABs.

I also think if the rules allowed him to play for Qld and the Kiwis he would too.

Although, when he lived in NZ he did live in Palmy, so I could see him rejecting NZ altogether based on that experience. :)
 

Walter sobchak

First Grade
Messages
5,845
I think there's zero chance of him playing for Australia if he switches to rugby. He's spoken on a number of Maori tv/vid shows about the ABs.

I also think if the rules allowed him to play for Qld and the Kiwis he would too.

Although, when he lived in NZ he did live in Palmy, so I could see him rejecting NZ altogether based on that experience. :)
What I don’t understand is how can josh papalii play for Queensland then contemplate playing for Samoa instead of Australia? Surely ponga could do the same and play for NZ?
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
He can. Whether the Queensland selectors ever pick him again is a different matter

Exactly.
If the Origin and Australian selectors stick by their own rules, any Origin player who declines to play for Australia will be barred from future Origin selection
 

Burns

First Grade
Messages
6,037
Yeah but NZ should just do it to get the reaction

What’s the worst that could happen?
 

Panther_Daz

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,901
He can. Whether the Queensland selectors ever pick him again is a different matter

It will get to a point where QLD will struggle to field a forward pack if they start banning players playing for the likes of Tonga, Samoa and Fiji.

Ofahenguae, D.Fifita, McGuire, Kaufusi, Napa and Papalii can all technically play for other countries.

I am not saying all of these players won't pick Australia but in the future if more of their young forwards are Pacific Islander like Fifita and Ofahenguae it could cause a problem. I heard John Hopoate the other day saying most of 16 year old Tongan kids are now putting Tonga as their nation of preference on their forms.

Even NSW have the likes of RCG, Sims, Saifiti, Frizzell, McLean and Haas.

The days of NSW and QLD being able to field a quality forward pack full of caucasians are over.
 

Force

Juniors
Messages
343
That was usually the decision these guys had to make....it was either a choice between Origin or NZ, the decision was never NZ or Kangaroos....they just had to play for the Kangaroos cos they wanted to play Origin. Karmichael Hunt, Papali'i, Tamou, Ponga etc....if you look back at articles, that was what was said.
 
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