As Australians what do you think ?

[aqua_duck]

Stop taking the soft option in Union, and set their sights higher by being the best at Rugby League.

Union in NZ the soft option? You've got to be kidding me, maybe in aus union is the soft option but not in NZ

 

[NGR]

what if the kiwi side looked something like this:
1 hunt
2 hayne
3 vagana
4 SBW
5 Vatuvei
6 marshel
7 jones
8 wiki
9 tony
10 asotasi
11 pulatua
12 kidwell
13 matiua
14 Pritchard
15 J cayless
16 A topou
17 Soliola

If Australia played a Kiwi team like this every weak it would be a hell of a lot more interesting.

 

[seajay23]

I think SOO eligibility is based on where you played your first junior league, so why not allow players to play SOO and then be eligible to play for their country of birth (eg NZ).
Similarly, for the many players who have pacific islander background but who can also play for OZ or NZ, why not let them be eligible for Tonga or Samoa or wherever for the World Cup but remain eligible for OZ or NZ for all other internationals. Surely this would strengthen the pacific island teams enormously and make the World Cup something more than a three-horse race.
The way it is now seems very biased towards strengthening the Australian team at the expense of the others when we should be setting our criteria to work in the opposite direction. Or are we so parochial that we would rather see Australia win everything even if it means that international league continues to wither?

 

[lockyno1]

Meh, I really don't care. He want to play for QLD, good on him.

 

[the kirwan kid]

I'm not having a go at them or NZ...it's just the criteria is a joke. You should play for the country of which you have citizenship. Simple.

I think that makes sense ... and if you have dual citizenship then you should be able to make a choice. I was actually born in the UK, moved to QLD as a baby and had never been to the UK until I went there last year (35 years later!). I'm as aussie as you get and had I been good enough to play rep footy I would have made myself eligible for Oz. When you've got an option you have to go with your heart. I'm an Aussie regardless of where I was born. That said, if I'd have moved here at 16, I'm not sure how Aussie I would have been by 21???
Not sure what the goes is with Brent Webb or Nathan Fien ... how kiwi could they feel??

 

[Kiwishark]

Not sure what the goes is with Brent Webb or Nathan Fien ... how kiwi could they feel??

I think their reasoning was (well definately Fien's anyway) was that being in the Warriors squad has made him feel Kiwi. I think there's a lot of Kiwi culture that surrounds the Warriors. He discovered his Grandma was born in Wanganui, so went for it.

For Int footy to compete with SOO, it needs to be brought to the level that SOO is today. How that is to be done, I don't know (I think this weeks happenings help a lot). But if players like Hunt for example, chooses to play for NZ because he wants to play int footy and NZ, then that would be great. Equally Fien for Australia.

Playing for Tonga and New Zealand or Samoa and Australia would devalue the respective jerseys i feel.

How would you as Australians think if a Kiwi played for New Zealand and NSW/QLD?

 

[Kurt Angle]

Union in NZ the soft option? You've got to be kidding me, maybe in aus union is the soft option but not in NZ

Yep, RU is the soft option.

As a kiwi, do 5 laps of the field, 3 hours of haka practice,20 push ups and bang... world champions... such little effort to be best in the world.

For NZ RL players, well for most of them, emmigrate to a first world country, train 4-6 hours a day five days a week, play in the most grueling rugby competition in the world, and hopefully get within 12 points of the Kangaroos.

For the kiwi RL players, its such a bigger mountain to climb, for much less success.

Hence, NZ takes the softer option by rewarding the mediocre option that is RU.

 

[Nightward]

Antonio Kaufusi's story is quite humourous. He went to the Brothers Rugby Club thinking it was a Union outfit and listed his position as "Number 8" (keystone of the forwards, more or less).

I can only imagine the League coach staring at him and thinking, "Prop-forward. Yes. Yes, indeed..."

That said, as long as a player can demonstrate that they are substantially a citizen of the nation they want to represent, they should be allowed to do so. It's really up to them; certainly, Hazem el-Masri is international standard, but has chosen to represent Lebanon.

Karmichael Hunt and Antonio Kaufusi grew up in Australia, watching Origin and dreaming of pulling on the Maroon. That's pretty damn Australian, that right there. Personally, I give them even greater credit, because let's be honest here, it's much harder to make the Australian team than the New Zealand one. That's not to say that the Kiwis are inferior, just that they have a more limited pool to select from, so if you're a stand-out player it's more likely you'll be noticed and rewarded.

Honestly, I don't think it's a matter of Origin being seen as this, that, or the other. They just grew up Queenslanders, which is to say... Australian. They've made their choice.

By contrast, others like Brent Webb and so forth feel more Kiwi. More power to them; if that's where their heart lies, that's where they should play.

 

[nqboy]

How would you as Australians think if a Kiwi played for New Zealand and NSW/QLD?

Fein represented Qld in Origin in 2001(?).

 

[Charlie124]

"I had my heart set on playing for Queensland"? Not "I had my heart set on playing for Aussie" ?

Does it at all bother you that a guy who was born and lived in NZ for 14 years, moves to Australia, decides he wants to play for QLD and makes the Aussie team by default ?

Karmichael Hunt.

Except he (according to the broncos website at the time) hadnt "decided" which country he wanted to play for until very recently.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

It's really up to them; certainly, Hazem el-Masri is international standard, but has chosen to represent Lebanon.

Where did you pluck that one from? Hazem El Mazri played a test a number of years ago for Australia against New Zealand. He plays for Lebanon as he has been overlooked (imho wrongly) from more rep football.

 

[douglasallen91]

I think that makes sense ... and if you have dual citizenship then you should be able to make a choice. I was actually born in the UK, moved to QLD as a baby and had never been to the UK until I went there last year (35 years later!). I'm as aussie as you get and had I been good enough to play rep footy I would have made myself eligible for Oz. When you've got an option you have to go with your heart. I'm an Aussie regardless of where I was born. That said, if I'd have moved here at 16, I'm not sure how Aussie I would have been by 21???
Not sure what the goes is with Brent Webb or Nathan Fien ... how kiwi could they feel??

fien will porably only feel 1/4 kiwi, gosh i hate this grandparent rule!

 

[Mixmasterreece]

fien will porably only feel 1/4 kiwi, gosh i hate this grandparent rule!

even the 'kiwi parent' rule is abit of a stretch

 

[Kiwishark]

Fein represented Qld in Origin in 2001(?).

I mean to say how would you feel if a player was playing origin and for the Kiwis simultaneously......?

 

[lockyno1]

I mean to say how would you feel if a player was playing origin and for the Kiwis simultaneously......?

I'd hate it. SOO is NSW vs QLD which is effectively a Australian trial. You want to play SOO, you play for Australia, simple as that.

 

[Martli]

I agree with Locky. It's an Australian thing, they shouldn't be using their series to train up kiwis to play against in test matches. The New Zealand super 14 franchises don't foreigners paly for them with the exception of a few islanders (since they literally have very little else to play in) becuase our teams are there to develop talent for the All Blacks. I don't see how origin should be any different.

 

[Azkatro]

If racists ruled the world there wouldn't be an issue. There would be fences around the countries and games would be played on Norfolk Island.

 

[aqua_duck]

Yep, RU is the soft option.

As a kiwi, do 5 laps of the field, 3 hours of haka practice,20 push ups and bang... world champions... such little effort to be best in the world.

For NZ RL players, well for most of them, emmigrate to a first world country, train 4-6 hours a day five days a week, play in the most grueling rugby competition in the world, and hopefully get within 12 points of the Kangaroos.

For the kiwi RL players, its such a bigger mountain to climb, for much less success.

Hence, NZ takes the softer option by rewarding the mediocre option that is RU.

Union is the number 1 sport in NZ, so its alot harder to crack the all blacks than it is to crack the NZ league team, I mean gees, how many kiwis have pulled out of the tri nations/test matches, how many all blacks have pulled out?
By the way you do know NZ hasn't won the rugby world cup in a while.
And if you think to be an all black all you have to do is 5 laps around a field and 20 push ups than logic says someone like Lote Tuqiri, who was once the best winger in league would score tries for fun against such physically inactive blokes?
I played 5th grade colts for parra two blues and we did more training than the all blacks apparently do.

 

[Murphdogg1]

Union is the number 1 sport in NZ, so its alot harder to crack the all blacks than it is to crack the NZ league team, I mean gees, how many kiwis have pulled out of the tri nations/test matches, how many all blacks have pulled out?
By the way you do know NZ hasn't won the rugby world cup in a while.
And if you think to be an all black all you have to do is 5 laps around a field and 20 push ups than logic says someone like Lote Tuqiri, who was once the best winger in league would score tries for fun against such physically inactive blokes?
I played 5th grade colts for parra two blues and we did more training than the all blacks apparently do.

It's not as easy to compare - NZ rugby union players are signed to the rugby union (NZRFU, equivelant to ARL) not to the individual franchises - so they can't be 'ruled out' by their franchises but i see your point

and yeh the all blacks train like their asses off let me assure you

 

[Lego_Man]

Yep, RU is the soft option.

As a kiwi, do 5 laps of the field, 3 hours of haka practice,20 push ups and bang... world champions... such little effort to be best in the world.

For NZ RL players, well for most of them, emmigrate to a first world country, train 4-6 hours a day five days a week, play in the most grueling rugby competition in the world, and hopefully get within 12 points of the Kangaroos.

For the kiwi RL players, its such a bigger mountain to climb, for much less success.

Hence, NZ takes the softer option by rewarding the mediocre option that is RU.

Actually that's pretty much rubbish, when you consider that the far larger union player pool mean that you are far less likely to be able to gain an All Blacks jersey. Just look at some of the nuffies that have been selected for the kiwis in recent years.