Leon Bott

[playdaball]

What is this players ethnicity ?

More to the point can he play for the Kiwis?

 

[yakstorm]

His mother Liota is a New Zealand Maori and his father Fred hails from Kuvalu, the tiny, isolated island group 1000km north of Fiji with a population of 10,000 spread across just 25sq km.

 

[yakstorm]

Tuvalu I mean

 

[dimitri]

where was he born

 

[PARRA_FAN]

I think Bott played his junior footy in Campbelltown, I think before or after he made the switch from Yawnion.

 

[ali]

I don't think Union can claim him though. He may have played some Union at school, but from the sounds of it he's been a Rugby League fan his whole life.

Did he go to a school where the only rugby option was Union?

 

[playdaball]

Get set for a Karmichael Hunt/Benji Marshall all over again...

Luckily for NZ Wayne Bennett's QLD influence will not come into play, although according to SOO rules he should play for QLD due to the fact that he made us debut for the Broncos.

This despite the fact that he was NSW born and bred ... Michael O'Connor all over again in reverse i.e. - played for NSW but was in essence a QLD'er.

 

[hutch]

he went to school at westfields sports high in fairfield where he played footy, but from what heard he was expelled for never turning up haha. from there im not sure where he went but has ended up in qld. so really is eligable for nsw, aus.

 

[coldhardbitch]

Benji Marshall will play for the Kiwis this year, and has no desire for origin.

There is an articel posted in the NRL forum. (I seems to see that the Tigers fans are the most positive of any Sydney club about their Kiwi internationals)

 

[colonel_123]

Benji Marshall will play for the Kiwis this year, and has no desire for origin.

There is an articel posted in the NRL forum. (I seems to see that the Tigers fans are the most positive of any Sydney club about their Kiwi internationals)

We've got to be positive about something, given what we've been through the last few years...

Probably most of it has to do with the fact that Harrison, Halatau and Marshall are all Tigers juniors who have come through the clubs junior ranks rather than being brought to the club. They're also still very young so to see them being considered for rep duties this early points to a healthy future for the club.

I know on the Tigers forum, when Whatuira played for New Zealand last year it didn't generate nearly as much excitement, even though he'd signed with the Tigers, as when Halatau was named in the two games he played.