Leeds not Releasing Webb

[screeny]

Aha, so that's the big stick, Wayne Bennett!

 

[shiznit]

actually, you never 'had' him. he chose to represent his new country, the one where he grew up playing rugby league, and he will spend the rest of his life in. good on him, he had every right to.

what a load of sh*te.... he couldnt give a sh*te about playing for australia.

he wanted to play origin football. if you had given him the option of playing Origin football and playing for the Kiwis i bet he would have taken it in a heartbeat.

just look at another great 'australian' Tonie Carrol... now that hes finnished playing rep footy hes come out and said hes Kiwi...

 

[Alehana]

what a load of sh*te.... he couldnt give a sh*te about playing for australia.

he wanted to play origin football. if you had given him the option of playing Origin football and playing for the Kiwis i bet he would have taken it in a heartbeat.

just look at another great 'australian' Tonie Carrol... now that hes finnished playing rep footy hes come out and said hes Kiwi...

He also said he's always been a kiwis (his whole life), something i find hard to believe when he represents queensland and australia.

 

[roughyedspud]

i like how everything always comes back to tonie bloody carroll......lol

 

[Fast Eddie]

Love is prepared to put pressure on the UK's RFL to make sure Leuluai and Brent Webb are released by their clubs and he is confident the pair will play. Love says he expects to hear today from the RFL, who have indicated they will play by the rules.

The international constitution requires clubs to release players for test matches.

www.radiosport.co.nz

 

[Blaze]

I heard the interview with Love on radiosport today. He really sounds quite pathetic imo. Certainly not affirmative enough to be in the position he is...

 

[jamesgould]

I heard the interview with Love on radiosport today. He really sounds quite pathetic imo. Certainly not affirmative enough to be in the position he is...

:shock: This is a huge step by Love's low standards! I'm actually quite proud of him haha. Shame he hasn't been doing this for the last ten years, though.

 

[deluded pom?]

If he pushes for Webb and Leuluai's relsease then I just hope he doesn't go missing in action when it's NRL clubs doing the same as Leeds and Wigan.

 

[The Observer]

He also said he's always been a kiwis (his whole life), something i find hard to believe when he represents queensland and australia.

Carroll said he wanted to be a Kiwi.
Thorn said he wanted to be an All Black.
Both said they wanted to play for QLD in Origin.

If you look at their early interviews, they talked about QLD, not the Kangaroos. Similarly, Hunt talked many times about how he was passionate about representing QLD. He played for Kangaroos, then QLD.

 

[shiznit]

i know its about principle but i dont know if Leuluai is really worth the fuss. id probably rather just play Nathan Fien at halfback.

Webb on the otherhand is probably worth it...

 

[The Observer]

why not start a campaign to have a worldwide international weekend...

This Trans Tasman test is supposed to celebrate a shared day of cultural significance between Australia and NZ. Between 1997 and 2007, the test celebrated ANZAC Day, which is one of the most important events in the history of both countries.

If the RFL had thought through staging the England France game, they would
a) schedule it to celebrate a shared day of cultural significance (e.g. a test on D Day, where British forces helped liberate France from occupying forces) - rather than holding it on a totally arbitrary day in the calendar.
b) not hold too far in the French summer when half the squad members, those playing in the French League, are in their off season

In fact, maybe if the English clubs put international RL first and not the Challenge Cup first, then your test team might actually have a chance of beating Australia. Given nearly all your test players play too much Rugby (i.e. more than 30 games
a season), and 6 or more play close to 40 games a season, it blunts the effectiveness of your top players having to play in a knockout competition.

At the very least, that means test team squad members being sectioned off from games against semi pro or amateur teams. Wigan does not need Stuart Fielden or Sean O'Loughlin to beat Whitehaven. Nor do they need Thomas Leuluai.

 

[shiznit]

well it looks like the RLIF have some balls afterall...

RLIF supports NZ claim for Test stars
May 2, 2008 - 12:01PM

English clubs have been told they must release New Zealand players Thomas Leuluai and Brent Webb for next week's rugby league Centenary Test with Australia or forfeit their availability at club level.
Super League giants Wigan and Leeds were opposed to releasing their stars for the international clash at the Sydney Cricket Ground as it conflicts with their domestic Challenge Cup knockout event.
But a teleconference on Friday involving the executive of the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) has supported New Zealand Rugby League's rights to call upon the Kiwi players for Test duty.
The telephone hook-up between RLIF chairman Colin Love, England's chairman Richard Lewis and RLIF secretary David Gallop on Friday decided not to relax the existing rules regarding international availability and deemed if the players were not released they would be ineligible to play in the corresponding Super League matches.
© 2008 AAP

frm: http://news.leaguehq.com.au/rlif-supports-nz-claim-for-test-stars/20080502-2a6l.html

 

[jamesgould]

Wow, I can't believe that the rules have been enforced for once!

 

[roughyedspud]

the question is...would this be done if NZ were playing england mid season and the NRL clubs withheld it's NZ players ? but that'll never happen will it?? oh hang on it already has in 2006..

i also put it to everyone that had this not been world cup year or a centenary test the ARL/RLIF would'nt have done a thing...but they need to sell tickets and drum up interest..


it's great that the RLIF have done this...but they need to do it every time from now on...a precedent has been set..

 

[shiznit]

the question is...would this be done if NZ were playing england mid season and the NRL clubs withheld it's NZ players ? but that'll never happen will it?? oh hang on it already has in 2006..

i also put it to everyone that had this not been world cup year or a centenary test the ARL/RLIF would'nt have done a thing...but they need to sell tickets and drum up interest..


it's great that the RLIF have done this...but they need to do it every time from now on...a precedent has been set..

i agree with you mate... the only reason why the RLIF are backing this is because of the significance of the year.

but now that this precedent has been set... maybe now the RFL could schedule a mid year tests to see if it goes both ways...

 

[jamesgould]

Well this is meant to be the final mid-year test between the Kiwis and Aussies, isn't it, so we won't get the chance to see if it would ever happen again.

 

[Alehana]

Awesome, great news, it may be a closer game that initially thought

 

[nadera78]

Well this is meant to be the final mid-year test between the Kiwis and Aussies, isn't it, so we won't get the chance to see if it would ever happen again.

With the NZRL being stoney-broke I reckon we can pencil the mid-season test in for the next few years. $500,000 for turning up and getting beaten? Easy money.

 

[jamesgould]

Possibly. I suppose the administration that wanted it ended is gone now as well (if it was Chalmers or Lowe who made the decision).

 

[screeny]

Peter Jessup in the NZ Herald seems to think that the RLIF pushed so hard because the NZRL owes the ARL money.

Wigan owner Ian Lenagan was on the radio saying that the RFL supported Wigan's plea 100%. So that indicates that, if Lenagan can be taken quite literally, Lewis was simply out-voted by Love and Gallop.

Both clubs' arguments were based on player welfare, but what a load of tripe considering some of the ridiculous situations British clubs and players have been placed in before, most notably the GB v Oz match that resulted in 64-12 a few years ago.

The wording of the RLIF rule is interesting too. It allows the RLIF to remain ambivalent if a lower level int'l is on and similar represtantions are made.

Hopefully classifications of members and their statutory rights will be more robust following this incident.