Fiji World Cup Stories

[roughyedspud]

imagine how good they'd be if they played 4 games a year inbetween world cups!!!

 

[stormlander]

Fiji will be the dark horse of RLWC 2013.
Petero Civoniceva will have the fire power up
front to match any team . With Kane Evans, Tariq,
Ashton & Kobe Simms and workhorse Jason Bukuya
they ll trouble many teams.
Out wide they ll destroy defenses with Tuqiri,
Jacob Loko, Jarod Haynes , Marika Koroibete,
and Sisa Waqa ... Wait there s more .. Ben Barba
of the Bulldogs qualifies for Fiji through his mother s
heritage....what a weapon to add to our arsenal.
Our halves and hooker is covered in Api Kurisau (Souths) &
Arron Groome (half back) ....

Would love to see Barba play for the Bati. He would fit right in with our playing style. That is a decent team we have here if they all decide to play for Fiji.

 

[roughyedspud]

play him at 7 if he plays for fiji

 

[Springs]

Hayne will play for Australia, the rest I'd say will play for Fiji. Civoniceva, Evans, Sims Bros, Sutton, Bukuya, Naiqama bros, Korobeite, Waqa, Tuqiri, possibly Barba and Uate if he's allowed.

 

[welshmagpie]

I'm sure I read Bukuya won't be playing due to his drug investigation.

 

[Bati 2013]

Mouth watering , imagine Kane Evans, Civoneceva
Tariq & Ashton hitting the line hard and allowing
line breakers like Taqele, Ben Barba , Marika Koroibete
Jarod Haynes to finish it off.

Having Wayne Bennett supporting our coaching
staff is only gonna make us stronger . Watch out
England & Ireland ...the Fijian s are coming ...

 

[Bati 2013]

Haynes will play for Fiji . He only wants to play
fullback or 5/8 .....Aus had to many players
ahead of him in Billy Slater, josh Dugan , Brett Stewart
Thurston , Pearce , and others ... So naturally he'll
opt for Fiji . Same as Akuila Uate

 

[hutch]

Haynes will play for Fiji . He only wants to play
fullback or 5/8 .....Aus had to many players
ahead of him in Billy Slater, josh Dugan , Brett Stewart
Thurston , Pearce , and others ... So naturally he'll
opt for Fiji . Same as Akuila Uate

Hayne will play for Australia in any position because he wants to play for his country.
Uate is not eligible to return to play for Fiji until after this World Cup cycle, he has already switched from Fiji to Australia during this cycle. Then again this is rugby league, weak rules are always broken.
Barba won't play for Fiji.
I hope Fiji can do well and emulate their success from 2008, but I hope they stick to what worked for them. A strong, committed mix of heritage players with elite Fijian players who have been preparing for the tournament all year and will play out of their skin. There is so much potential in that country and we are finally starting to see Fijian developed rugby league players make it to the nrl for the first time in korobete and waqa. They just need regular games and tournaments, a mid year rep schedule is vital for the continued growth of our sport. How good would a Fiji v png test series be!!!!

 

[roughyedspud]

i think barba will turn out for fiji.......so will uate

 

[hutch]

i think barba will turn out for fiji.......so will uate

And as somebody who has been staunchly against nation swapping in the past, what are your thoughts on that?
Also, Barba playing for Fiji is a joke IMO.

 

[roughyedspud]

told you months & months ago that the horse has bolted and its open season....when uate illegally switched after playing for fiji in the 2009 pacific cup it opened the door to a free for all,any player barred from switching can take the RLIF to court...AND WIN!!....im not going to bust a blood vessel worrying about it,ive spent the last 7 years going on about switching,one nation for life,more games for the pacific nations etc.....the RLIF have made a rod for their own back..so sod them!

 

[Springs]

And as somebody who has been staunchly against nation swapping in the past, what are your thoughts on that?
Also, Barba playing for Fiji is a joke IMO.

Of course it is, everything is a joke for you. How could someone playing for a country that he is perfectly eligible for while never having played for any other country or state not be a joke?

And a mid-year rep schedule isn't anywhere near as vital as an end of year rep schedule. The Pacific Cup should be held every year and Australia/New Zealand/England should play at least two tests against Pacific nations every year. All 5 strongest pacific nations should be playing at least 3 tests against other Pacific nations per year, and one test against a stronger nation per year.

 

[hutch]

Of course it is, everything is a joke for you. How could someone playing for a country that he is perfectly eligible for while never having played for any other country or state not be a joke?

Everything is not a joke to me, dont be ridiculous. I have every right to be critical when our sport takes the easy option instead of taking the tough approach and trying to grow our sport. I have been passionate about international rugby league for around 20 years, have had quite a few mates play in world cups for a number of countries and have supported it as much as I could. Every time a World Cup comes around the same issues pop up and it is a much bigger issue than people like you make it out to be. Our sport needs to stop looking for a quick fix and start developing the game for the future.
Of course ill be supporting the World Cup, I havnt made up my mind if I'm going over for it yet, chances are I won't be but ill be doing my best to spread the word and tuning into all the matches, but I just think our sport can do better than what it currently is. If you think out eligibility laws are fine or are happy with players switching multiple times then you have no idea about how successful international sport works.

And a mid-year rep schedule isn't anywhere near as vital as an end of year rep schedule. The Pacific Cup should be held every year and Australia/New Zealand/England should play at least two tests against Pacific nations every year. All 5 strongest pacific nations should be playing at least 3 tests against other Pacific nations per year, and one test against a stronger nation per year.

A mid year schedule is just as important as an end of year schedule. Players need incentive to commit to these nations instead of being drawn by the origin carot. Giving a player with dual nationality the choice knowing that he is going to be playing meaningful rep games and tests every single year (just as australia does) makes other nations more attractive for players to commit to and allows them to develop their player pool.
Agree with your points regarding end of year tests.

 

[Evil Homer]

Everything is not a joke to me, dont be ridiculous. I have every right to be critical when our sport takes the easy option instead of taking the tough approach and trying to grow our sport. I have been passionate about international rugby league for around 20 years, have had quite a few mates play in world cups for a number of countries and have supported it as much as I could. Every time a World Cup comes around the same issues pop up and it is a much bigger issue than people like you make it out to be. Our sport needs to stop looking for a quick fix and start developing the game for the future.
Of course ill be supporting the World Cup, I havnt made up my mind if I'm going over for it yet, chances are I won't be but ill be doing my best to spread the word and tuning into all the matches, but I just think our sport can do better than what it currently is. If you think out eligibility laws are fine or are happy with players switching multiple times then you have no idea about how successful international sport works.

I think the point here is that guys like Sutton playing for Fiji and making them competitive is better for the game than some local guy playing and Fiji being flogged by Australia and England. The World Cup needs strong teams and, while not ideal, this provides for that. In Sutton's case, he hasn't swapped nations so it's fine, if the chance to play in the World Cup is what it takes for these players to commit then so be it. Like you said, give these nations more meaningful fixtures and they'll be able to field their strongest teams on a more regular basis.

 

[Springs]

Everything is not a joke to me, dont be ridiculous. I have every right to be critical when our sport takes the easy option instead of taking the tough approach and trying to grow our sport. I have been passionate about international rugby league for around 20 years, have had quite a few mates play in world cups for a number of countries and have supported it as much as I could. Every time a World Cup comes around the same issues pop up and it is a much bigger issue than people like you make it out to be. Our sport needs to stop looking for a quick fix and start developing the game for the future.
Of course ill be supporting the World Cup, I havnt made up my mind if I'm going over for it yet, chances are I won't be but ill be doing my best to spread the word and tuning into all the matches, but I just think our sport can do better than what it currently is. If you think out eligibility laws are fine or are happy with players switching multiple times then you have no idea about how successful international sport works.

I never said I was happy with it. But Barba or Sutton haven't switched multiple times nor will they have broken any other sport's eligibility rules if they decide to play for Fiji. It's a joke to you simply because you don't want them to play. If a team or a competition isn't exactly how you want it to be it's a joke. And I hardly see how taking the tough approach is going to grow the sport. The sport has been growing every year. The world cup will be the biggest ever. Teams like Tonga, Scotland, Fiji, England, Cook Islands etc will be fielding their strongest sides possibly ever or for a number of years at least.

Taking the 'tough approach' at the stage of development our international game is in leads to what happened to PNG at the 2010 Four Nations.

In actual fact, Fiji will most likely field a side of players that haven't played for any other country, apart from Civoniceva. And I have no problem with Civoniceva playing.

 

[hutch]

I never said I was happy with it. But Barba or Sutton haven't switched multiple times nor will they have broken any other sport's eligibility rules if they decide to play for Fiji. It's a joke to you simply because you don't want them to play. If a team or a competition isn't exactly how you want it to be it's a joke. And I hardly see how taking the tough approach is going to grow the sport. The sport has been growing every year. The world cup will be the biggest ever. Teams like Tonga, Scotland, Fiji, England, Cook Islands etc will be fielding their strongest sides possibly ever or for a number of years at least.

Taking the 'tough approach' at the stage of development our international game is in leads to what happened to PNG at the 2010 Four Nations.

In actual fact, Fiji will most likely field a side of players that haven't played for any other country, apart from Civoniceva. And I have no problem with Civoniceva playing.

I'm not going to keep repeating the same thing over and over. If you think having players such as Sutton and barba or even hayne play for Fiji every four years they miss out in the Australian squad only to switch back to nsw/qld and Australia in between world cups is good for the sport then good luck to you. But it is not the best way to develop our sport for the future. Not picking on Fiji who have actually been one of the better countries at developing rugby league over the last decade, other countries have been far more guilty of waiting until Australia and nz pick their squads before feeding on the scraps and it has backfired (think tonga in 2008).
Perhaps we aren't ready for a one nation for life rule just yet which has worked so well in union and soccer. Maybe we should allow a switch with an enforced stand down period but the constant switching of nations is nothing but a quick fix which holds us back in the long run. I can't deny that mini and petero havnt helped Italy and Fijian rugby league over the last couple of years so there is merit in allowing players one switch.

I will support international rugby league no matter what as it is my passion but it is damn frustrating that previous mistakes havnt been rectified and our sport is not even close to reaching its potential.

If you are happy with the way things are going then that's great, I want more.

 

[Bronco Rob]

The issue I have with the overuse of heritage players is that it doesn't give a true represenation of a Nation's actual development in Rugby League. How is it fair that a nation can have a 4 team domestic comp but because it is fortunate enough to be able to draw upon heritage players from Aust and the UK it can have a passage into the WC over nations that are far more developed and more devoted to building the game in their respective nations? How is it going to look if Italy make the semi final, a nation that has until a couple of years ago had a speculative 4 team comp that ran for 3 weeks?

Like I've stated before I am not against heritage players just against the overuse of them especially those who have no affilliation with them at all until it come to WC time and some would probably have never set foot in those countries of heritage. It's just a quick fix to make their nation's side competitive but how does it encourage them to develop the game when all they need to do every 4 years is again draw on those players who have some tenuous link. What about the nations who are doing it through hard work and toil to develop the game using their won domestic players and have no real access to players with any heritage. We are making a dangerous rod for our own back.

I think any heritage player should be made to give something back towards the development of that nation, not just turn up in their jersey to fulfill their own egos, give something back to the nation you have conviently have eligibility for and decided to represent because there's a big tournament on!

 

[deluded pom?]

I think we also need a more rigorous qualification system so that if heritage players want to sit back and hope their second nation makes it through they are risking the chance of that nation not making the WC finals. Or they could put their hands up and turn out in the WC qualifiers giving their second nation the best possible chance of qualifying. Of course once a player has taken part in qualifiers then he is tied to that nation at least until the WC finals are over.

 

[hutch]

I think we also need a more rigorous qualification system so that if heritage players want to sit back and hope their second nation makes it through they are risking the chance of that nation not making the WC finals. Or they could put their hands up and turn out in the WC qualifiers giving their second nation the best possible chance of qualifying. Of course once a player has taken part in qualifiers then he is tied to that nation at least until the WC finals are over.

They did announce that if you play in the qualifiers for a country you are tied in for that World Cup cycle. Then a couple of months later they announced 12 of the 14 teams were automatic qualifiers.

 

[RedVee]

The issue I have with the overuse of heritage players is that it doesn't give a true represenation of a Nation's actual development in Rugby League. How is it fair that a nation can have a 4 team domestic comp but because it is fortunate enough to be able to draw upon heritage players from Aust and the UK it can have a passage into the WC over nations that are far more developed and more devoted to building the game in their respective nations? How is it going to look if Italy make the semi final, a nation that has until a couple of years ago had a speculative 4 team comp that ran for 3 weeks?

Like I've stated before I am not against heritage players just against the overuse of them especially those who have no affilliation with them at all until it come to WC time and some would probably have never set foot in those countries of heritage. It's just a quick fix to make their nation's side competitive but how does it encourage them to develop the game when all they need to do every 4 years is again draw on those players who have some tenuous link. What about the nations who are doing it through hard work and toil to develop the game using their won domestic players and have no real access to players with any heritage. We are making a dangerous rod for our own back.

I think any heritage player should be made to give something back towards the development of that nation, not just turn up in their jersey to fulfill their own egos, give something back to the nation you have conviently have eligibility for and decided to represent because there's a big tournament on!

It would be nice if countries like Serbia and Lebanon had a bigger return in RLWC terms with all the work they've done domestically and in their regions.

On Barba, after watching him at Suncorp scoring tries for the Indigenous team it would feel wrong to see him on TV playing RLWC games for Fiji.... But If he is eligble then... Nah, it'll still feel wrong.