Jason Taumalolo opts to play for Tonga

[TheDMC]

Lol. Dale Budge is a f**kwit.

Why? he is a pretty good journo in my opinion. He genuinely cares about rugby league, writes well, and has interesting perspectives. He is the kiwi Steve Mascord.

 

[adamkungl]

Why? he is a pretty good journo in my opinion. He genuinely cares about rugby league, writes well, and has interesting perspectives. He is the kiwi Steve Mascord.

Does he? Only took a quick google search to find him saying RL shouldn't even bother with internationals because the rules a joke/farce/embarrassment. He is literally the opposite of Mascord.

His last article was a hysterical meltdown about RL being a joke/farce/embarrassment because the NZRL let Taumololo slip away. Claimed that fans supporting JT's decision are "everything that is wrong with the sport".

Now he's so worried about the Kiwis losing to a minnow that he's suggesting they drop a tier. Which the result would be their players could jump ship to Australia as well as Tonga

 

[kiwileaguefan]

Does he? Only took a quick google search to find him saying RL shouldn't even bother with internationals because the rules a joke/farce/embarrassment. He is literally the opposite of Mascord.

Its pretty hard not to disagree with him on some aspects of this? I think if you combined the Tongan, Fijian, and Samoan squads together, out of the 73 players selected, only something like 15-16 were born in that country. I would hate to see what the figure will be once you add Ireland, Scotland, Lebanon and Italy to that tally.

And all of these Nations have participated in at least one RLWC in the past 17 years and i bet there has been little improvement on the opportunities for local or local developed players having a chance at make the final squad less Fiji.

To be fair this World Cup, the only genuine (players born or at some stage locally produced) nations parting are:
Australia,
England,
NZ,
Wales,
France,
PNG,
Fiji, and
USA.

And out of that list, both France (Lebanon) and USA (Italy) are likely not to progress out of their pool due to other heritage based nations.

 

[adamkungl]

Its pretty hard not to disagree with him on some aspects of this? I think if you combined the Tongan, Fijian, and Samoan squads together, out of the 73 players selected, only something like 15-16 were born in that country. I would hate to see what the figure will be once you add Ireland, Scotland, Lebanon and Italy to that tally.

Sorry, if you're throwing the joke/farce card in every article it means you're either unwilling or incapable of reasoned expectations and debate.
What people like you and Dale are asking for is professional Rugby League competitions to spring from nowhere instantly.
And the worst part is, if the sport demanded supposed authenticity, the exact same people would sook about blow-out scores.
The goalposts are constantly shifting and the bar impossible to ever reach for Rugby League.

According to Wikipedia Tonga has something like triple its actual population living in NZ, Aus or the USA. Tonga is the size of a medium NSW country town, it's never going to have more than a sprinkling of local born players.

And all of these Nations have participated in at least one RLWC in the past 17 years and i bet there has been little improvement on the opportunities for local or local developed players having a chance at make the final squad less Fiji.

USA Ireland Italy and Lebanon will all be bringing over more domestic players than their last World Cup.

To be fair this World Cup, the only genuine (players born or at some stage locally produced) nations parting are:
Australia,
England,
NZ,
Wales,
France,
PNG,
Fiji, and
USA.

And out of that list, both France (Lebanon) and USA (Italy) are likely not to progress out of their pool due to other heritage based nations.

So more than half of the participating nations are developing professional players and 13 of the 14 have legitimate domestic competitions. Wow, embarrassing stuff.

 

[morningstar]

Why? he is a pretty good journo in my opinion. He genuinely cares about rugby league, writes well, and has interesting perspectives. He is the kiwi Steve Mascord.

What AK said.

I agree nornally he is one of the better ones but it's not hard when your contemporaries are David Long, Chris Rattue, Marvin France & Hamish Bidwell.

His reactions over the past couple of days have been nonsensical though. Total meltdown on twitter, he seemed to delight in writing a hit piece on the NZRL and then started arguing Italy should pick SBW, Hunt & Folau for the cup to try and prove some kind of point only he understands.

Sam Ackerman & Michael Burgess are the best NZ league journos for me.

 

[adamkungl]

What AK said.

I agree nornally he is one of the better ones but it's not hard when your contemporaries are David Long, Chris Rattue, Marvin France & Hamish Bidwell.

His reactions over the past couple of days have been nonsensical though. Total meltdown on twitter, he seemed to delight in writing a hit piece on the NZRL and then started arguing Italy should pick SBW, Hunt & Folau for the cup to try and prove some kind of point only he understands.

Sam Ackerman & Michael Burgess are the best NZ league journos for me.

That was quality lol
If the bloke loves Rugby League it's as far as any multi-sport writer does, ie. it's a nice little provincial game that should stay in it's provincial box.

 

[TheDMC]

What AK said.

I agree nornally he is one of the better ones but it's not hard when your contemporaries are David Long, Chris Rattue, Marvin France & Hamish Bidwell.

His reactions over the past couple of days have been nonsensical though. Total meltdown on twitter, he seemed to delight in writing a hit piece on the NZRL and then started arguing Italy should pick SBW, Hunt & Folau for the cup to try and prove some kind of point only he understands.

Sam Ackerman & Michael Burgess are the best NZ league journos for me.

Okay fair enough, haven't been reading his recent rants, more just going from reading his stuff over a long period, and yes the others mentioned set a very low bar.

Adamkungl, budge is not against international league mate, he is clearly just super frustrated about the state of it...

 

[adamkungl]

Adamkungl, budge is not against international league mate, he is clearly just super frustrated about the state of it...

Problem is, complaints about the state of it are rarely grounded in reality.
Flexible eligibility rules and too many heritage majority teams?
If we didn't, the journos would be sooking about blow out scores.
If we cut down the number of teams, the same journos would be calling it a glorified tri nations.

There's no winning. The situation we have now is the result of 100 years of shortsighted mismanagement and a healthy dose of Rugby Union interference.
It will take decades for the sport to have 16 professional quality teams sourced by strong domestic competitions, even if every possible decision made was the best one.

The sport is heading in the right direction overall, hysterical tantrums about every minor issue helps no one. Get on board or ignore it altogether.

 

[Stallion]

Problem is, complaints about the state of it are rarely grounded in reality.
Flexible eligibility rules and too many heritage majority teams?
If we didn't, the journos would be sooking about blow out scores.
If we cut down the number of teams, the same journos would be calling it a glorified tri nations.

There's no winning. The situation we have now is the result of 100 years of shortsighted mismanagement and a healthy dose of Rugby Union interference.
It will take decades for the sport to have 16 professional quality teams sourced by strong domestic competitions, even if every possible decision made was the best one.

The sport is heading in the right direction overall, hysterical tantrums about every minor issue helps no one. Get on board or ignore it altogether.

Well done Adamkuing! You have pinpointed the obstacles faced by this underrated sport. Finally!

 

[kiwileaguefan]

Sorry, if you're throwing the joke/farce card in every article it means you're either unwilling or incapable of reasoned expectations and debate.
What people like you and Dale are asking for is professional Rugby League competitions to spring from nowhere instantly.
And the worst part is, if the sport demanded supposed authenticity, the exact same people would sook about blow-out scores.
The goalposts are constantly shifting and the bar impossible to ever reach for Rugby League.

According to Wikipedia Tonga has something like triple its actual population living in NZ, Aus or the USA. Tonga is the size of a medium NSW country town, it's never going to have more than a sprinkling of local born players.

USA Ireland Italy and Lebanon will all be bringing over more domestic players than their last World Cup.

So more than half of the participating nations are developing professional players and 13 of the 14 have legitimate domestic competitions. Wow, embarrassing stuff.

I'm only saying what is being said here in NZ. The general public who are not hardcore league fans will get the info from the media. And generally, the media has been rather negative because of the mickey mouse rules and all this nation swapping that happened last week. Just have a read of the comments on the below articles...not my words:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/97672540/issac-luke-could-have-played-for-ireland-at-rugby-league-world-cup--coach
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/leagu...nd-eligibility-rules-as-nzrl-seek-cutoff-date
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/leagu...ust-be-changed-after-jason-taumalolo-flipflop
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opini...er-jason-taumalolo-an-embarrassment-for-kiwishttps://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opini...er-jason-taumalolo-an-embarrassment-for-kiwis

I'm so happy for Tonga to have a strong team.....but how good is it to see Tonga have gone from having two domestic players in the squad from 2013 to zero for this year? Samoa has gone from one domestic player in 2013 to zero this year.

I don't know why you are so hung up about scorelines? Rugby League seams so fixated on scorelines instead of having genuine League playing nations which would generate far more publicity and attraction to the average sports fan. In the past years, we have lost the likes of Russia and South Africa only to be replaced by nations like Lebanon, Scotland, Italy and Ireland (to an extent) who are 95% heritage based players. Is it little wonder the Scotland domestic league has died...

Have a look at the past sporting world cups NZ has had here, they have been generally well supported because Kiwis love to back the underdogs - as that is what our country is built upon - punching above our weight. Instead, how are you meant to sell a Tonga vs Samoa game when they find out only a couple of players were actually born there and none of them has played any league there (granted a couple of 'Samoan' players played a test there last year)?

I really take my hat off to USA for what they have done this time around. I was extremely critical of the squad they selected in 2013.You can create a pretty strong case to show that what they achieved in 2013 hasn't really done anything for the game in the country, but what they are doing this year will. Watch they will be one of the fan favourites this year.

Just because a nation has a domestic competition doesn't mean anything if the national team is nearly all heritage based players...how good is it in the 17 years since Lebanon last played in an RLWC that they can only commit to having one domestic player??? Yet they can use four domestic players to smash a nearly an entirely domestic-based South African team to qualify.

What Dale and I are asking for is COMMITTED players or players who actually have come from the domestic competition....to me in 2008 we had a starting point to restart the RLWC where I guess heritage based teams were to be expected....fast forward nine years and Samoa, Tonga, and Scotland have shown little interest in actually developing their domestic players...in fact they have done barely anything since 20000. At least Ireland are starting to turn that around now...but then again they would have taken Issac Luke if he had the correct documentation!!!

How many of these players will back up for Samoa or Tonga next year?

 

[kiwileaguefan]

f**k me on NRL 360 with the interview with Kristian Woolf, he just stated the Tongan players will get $30 per day to play for Tonga plus a couple grand at the end of the tournament from sponsorship...

 

[Irish-bulldog]

f**k me on NRL 360 with the interview with Kristian Woolf, he just stated the Tongan players will get $30 per day to play for Tonga plus a couple grand at the end of the tournament from sponsorship...

Disgraceful isn't it, and they wonder why the game isn't growing lol. Where is all the money going ?.

 

[morningstar]

What money? They have no revenue as they play no games, they don't seem to lobby for govt funding and only just managed to get a front jersey sponsor last week.

National team payments should be the jurisdiction of the individual nations not the NRL, RFL or RLIF.

 

[morningstar]

I'm only saying what is being said here in NZ. The general public who are not hardcore league fans will get the info from the media. And generally, the media has been rather negative because of the mickey mouse rules and all this nation swapping that happened last week. Just have a read of the comments on the below articles...not my words:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/97672540/issac-luke-could-have-played-for-ireland-at-rugby-league-world-cup--coach
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/leagu...nd-eligibility-rules-as-nzrl-seek-cutoff-date
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/leagu...ust-be-changed-after-jason-taumalolo-flipflop
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opini...er-jason-taumalolo-an-embarrassment-for-kiwishttps://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opini...er-jason-taumalolo-an-embarrassment-for-kiwis

I'm so happy for Tonga to have a strong team.....but how good is it to see Tonga have gone from having two domestic players in the squad from 2013 to zero for this year? Samoa has gone from one domestic player in 2013 to zero this year.

I don't know why you are so hung up about scorelines? Rugby League seams so fixated on scorelines instead of having genuine League playing nations which would generate far more publicity and attraction to the average sports fan. In the past years, we have lost the likes of Russia and South Africa only to be replaced by nations like Lebanon, Scotland, Italy and Ireland (to an extent) who are 95% heritage based players. Is it little wonder the Scotland domestic league has died...

Have a look at the past sporting world cups NZ has had here, they have been generally well supported because Kiwis love to back the underdogs - as that is what our country is built upon - punching above our weight. Instead, how are you meant to sell a Tonga vs Samoa game when they find out only a couple of players were actually born there and none of them has played any league there (granted a couple of 'Samoan' players played a test there last year)?

I really take my hat off to USA for what they have done this time around. I was extremely critical of the squad they selected in 2013.You can create a pretty strong case to show that what they achieved in 2013 hasn't really done anything for the game in the country, but what they are doing this year will. Watch they will be one of the fan favourites this year.

Just because a nation has a domestic competition doesn't mean anything if the national team is nearly all heritage based players...how good is it in the 17 years since Lebanon last played in an RLWC that they can only commit to having one domestic player??? Yet they can use four domestic players to smash a nearly an entirely domestic-based South African team to qualify.

What Dale and I are asking for is COMMITTED players or players who actually have come from the domestic competition....to me in 2008 we had a starting point to restart the RLWC where I guess heritage based teams were to be expected....fast forward nine years and Samoa, Tonga, and Scotland have shown little interest in actually developing their domestic players...in fact they have done barely anything since 20000. At least Ireland are starting to turn that around now...but then again they would have taken Issac Luke if he had the correct documentation!!!

How many of these players will back up for Samoa or Tonga next year?

Agree with a lot of that, but going to the stuff.co.nz comments section for RL feedback is like going to Fox News for an opinion on Hilary Clinton.

 

[hutch]

Disgraceful isn't it, and they wonder why the game isn't growing lol. Where is all the money going ?.

Who said the game isn't growing?

 

[LineBall]

f**k me on NRL 360 with the interview with Kristian Woolf, he just stated the Tongan players will get $30 per day to play for Tonga plus a couple grand at the end of the tournament from sponsorship...

The only reason Tonga can have players like JT is due to the increase salary they have through the NRL. The Domestic leagues in the island nations will never be able to compete with the match payments the Australian and to a lesser degree the Kiwi players can get. Strengthening the NRL and increasing player payments will benefit the international Game. It's the tier below that needs to help facilitate players from the islands getting a chance in the NRL - such as getting a Fiji team into the NSW cup.

 

[adamkungl]

It would be nice to see the World Cup generate enough money to give a little more than $30 a day as an appearance fee or something but to give Kangaroo-level match payments to minnows would be at best pointless and at worst a gross misuse of the game's money

 

[roughyedspud]

It would be nice to see the World Cup generate enough money to give a little more than $30 a day as an appearance fee or something but to give Kangaroo-level match payments to minnows would be at best pointless and at worst a gross misuse of the game's money

The money comes from the Tongan RL not the RLIF...and rightly so..any grants the RLIF give them should be spent on development not player bonuses imo

to give the player more money the Tongan RL has to generate more money itself..Fijian RL seems to generate a decent amount of revenue from sponsorships etc..I wondr how much they are paying their players?

 

[adamkungl]

The money comes from the Tongan RL not the RLIF...and rightly so..any grants the RLIF give them should be spent on development not player bonuses imo

to give the player more money the Tongan RL has to generate more money itself..Fijian RL seems to generate a decent amount of revenue from sponsorships etc..I wondr how much they are paying their players?

How's Parish's form sooking about unfair player payments.. how many games has he got Samoa playing since 2013? I think 2 in 3 years outside the 4N?

 

[Smack]

I think it's good players are playing for smaller nations, sick of NZ and Aus being the strongest teams and it's good that players show pride in Tonga or w/e. I think this will be a good world cup.