Daniel Vidot - What a depressing story for International League

[deal.with.it]

What happens if Samoa plays a WC qualifier the same week as Origin.
It's a must win game for Samoa.
Does Vidot choose Samoa or Origin?

 

[Scubby]

What happens if Samoa plays a WC qualifier the same week as Origin.
It's a must win game for Samoa.
Does Vidot choose Samoa or Origin?

World Cup qualifiers? For people who love international league it would be a nice dilemma to have. Having looked on the Samoan RL facebook page I think the mood is that he could play Origin with their blessing but why should he have to ditch a country he has already played 6 tests for in the last 8 months.

Also, I have my doubts whether Vidot is actually eligible for Origin/Australia at the moment as the May Test v Fiji was not a WC (musical chairs free pass) test. This means he would not be eligible to play for Australia for 2 years.

 

[deluded pom?]

Anthony Minichiello last year. NSW & Italy if I'm not mistaken.

I meant a player at the beginning of his rep career who would be chosen for Australia not one at the end of his career who wouldn't get in the Kangaroos squad.

 

[Knownothing]

The majority of posters on this thread have absolutely no idea about the reality of life in the Pacific Island nations like Tonga, Samoa, the Cooks, and to some extent, Fiji.


Most families in these nations are facing a perpetual financial struggle. A young man who can earn money playing professional sport does so, firstly, so that he can support his family. Other factors, like so-called passion for his national team, are secondary.


A bit of empathy and understanding is needed when making big statements about pride and passion. Putting food on the table comes first, and so it should.


Any NRL player from these nations would naturally want to qualify to play SOO, because of the financial benefits that accrue. If he could earn as much playing for his country, he would choose that instead. But that will not happen any time soon. In the meantime, get off their backs, let them do what professional athletes usually do, they all need to maximise their incomes in their limited time at the top.

Representing your country is a great achievement, but it should not be seen as more important than the provision of the basic necessities of life in a relatively poor country. Get a sense of perspective, chaps.

 

[deal.with.it]

World Cup qualifiers? For people who love international league it would be a nice dilemma to have. Having looked on the Samoan RL facebook page I think the mood is that he could play Origin with their blessing but why should he have to ditch a country he has already played 6 tests for in the last 8 months.

Also, I have my doubts whether Vidot is actually eligible for Origin/Australia at the moment as the May Test v Fiji was not a WC (musical chairs free pass) test. This means he would not be eligible to play for Australia for 2 years.

But if he hasn't changed allegiances this WC cycle, he is entitled to one swap.

So he has played for Samoa, and no other nation yet. He played for Samoa this year. He can swap once legally. So he could change from Samoa to Australia to be able to play origin, but then he shouldn't be able to change back to Samoa.

HOWEVER...

The RLIF has said they won't force players of minnow nations to sit out test matches if they aren't a chance in the world of playing for Australia.

SO...

Vidot could swap legally to Australia to play origin, and then Samoa/Vidot could apply in writing to the RLIF to change his allegiance back to Samoa. This is a case-by-case review, and going by the RLIF's track record, Vidot has a good chance of playing for Samoa.

BUT...

The hard part is working out when a player actually changes allegiance. For example, after Vidot had played for Samoa (?) a few years back, and then wanted to play for origin, did he change allegiance at that point? Because he didn't get picked, would he have changed allegiances? Does a change of allegiance occur when a player runs out for a nation, or when you tell the RLIF you are swapping, regardless of yet being selected? Would the QLD or NSW origin selectors choose a player who needs to swap their allegiance?

 

[hutch]

The majority of posters on this thread have absolutely no idea about the reality of life in the Pacific Island nations like Tonga, Samoa, the Cooks, and to some extent, Fiji.


Most families in these nations are facing a perpetual financial struggle. A young man who can earn money playing professional sport does so, firstly, so that he can support his family. Other factors, like so-called passion for his national team, are secondary.


A bit of empathy and understanding is needed when making big statements about pride and passion. Putting food on the table comes first, and so it should.


Any NRL player from these nations would naturally want to qualify to play SOO, because of the financial benefits that accrue. If he could earn as much playing for his country, he would choose that instead. But that will not happen any time soon. In the meantime, get off their backs, let them do what professional athletes usually do, they all need to maximise their incomes in their limited time at the top.

Representing your country is a great achievement, but it should not be seen as more important than the provision of the basic necessities of life in a relatively poor country. Get a sense of perspective, chaps.

I understand you point, but in reality there are probably less than 10 players from the pacific islands in the nrl. Vidot, Milford and most of the players people are saying are ditching their 'country' to play for australia are all born in Australia. They made the decision to play for their country of heritage and are now allowed to swap back to Australia (for origin, $, whichever reason). There is no consequence for players like this. They don't want to miss out on a World Cup so they play for Samoa, they don't wanna miss out on origin so they play for an Australian state, they don't wanna miss out on playing for they country of birth so they play for Australia and get paid massive dollars, then they will want to play for their heritage again when they miss out on the kangaroos when their form drops etc. Make a decision, stick with it. At the bare minimum, make sure players understand that if they choose to play for a country, there are hurdles such as stand down periods or a limit on the amount of times you can switch.

Origin is for the arl to decide who is eligible. They shouldn't be allowed to take other countries players if they insist only Australian eligible players can play. They should also allow other nations to play their own rep games or test series during a mid season rep break when origin is on. There are too many factors favouring Australia and nobody else. We have the lure of origin and the guarantee of test matches every year, then expect countries to be competitive every 4 years at a World Cup despite all the players having never played together before. We havnt learnt a thing from the last two decades, we havnt even tried to improve the international game.

 

[gUt]

What about players who were born and played juniors in Vic or WA? I guess the "first senior game" rule applies right? If so, we are going to be faced with an increasing number of players whose first senior game was played in another state apart from qld or nsw

So in these cases if there's a way to allow them to represent one of the SOO states I can't see why whatever rules apply can't also apply to players with other international loyalties. To me it's the best of all worlds and RL gets to showcase its best possible players at all rep levels.

In this way SOO could be used to promote the international game.

 

[RedVee]

I meant a player at the beginning of his rep career who would be chosen for Australia not one at the end of his career who wouldn't get in the Kangaroos squad.

But it shows that there was no effort expended in stopping him. Mind you they did "say" he wasn't eligble for Origin the next year.

I understand you point, but in reality there are probably less than 10 players from the pacific islands in the nrl. Vidot, Milford and most of the players people are saying are ditching their 'country' to play for australia are all born in Australia. They made the decision to play for their country of heritage and are now allowed to swap back to Australia (for origin, $, whichever reason). There is no consequence for players like this. They don't want to miss out on a World Cup so they play for Samoa, they don't wanna miss out on origin so they play for an Australian state, they don't wanna miss out on playing for they country of birth so they play for Australia and get paid massive dollars, then they will want to play for their heritage again when they miss out on the kangaroos when their form drops etc. Make a decision, stick with it. At the bare minimum, make sure players understand that if they choose to play for a country, there are hurdles such as stand down periods or a limit on the amount of times you can switch.

Origin is for the arl to decide who is eligible. They shouldn't be allowed to take other countries players if they insist only Australian eligible players can play. They should also allow other nations to play their own rep games or test series during a mid season rep break when origin is on. There are too many factors favouring Australia and nobody else. We have the lure of origin and the guarantee of test matches every year, then expect countries to be competitive every 4 years at a World Cup despite all the players having never played together before. We havnt learnt a thing from the last two decades, we havnt even tried to improve the international game.

Yep, agree.
But I wonder if Origin will be forced to relax the rules on 'other State' players eventually. If a new Inglis/Slater/Hayne pops up and is ineligble for Origin Gus will explode with the injustice of it all.

 

[deluded pom?]

I thought the rule was that if a player is eligible for a tier one nation (God, I hate that expression) and they don't select him he's then OK to play for his tier two nation, if he has one. I didn't think they had to apply to the RLIF for permission to switch.