Nervous times ahead: Will the 4 Nations fail?

[deluded pom?]

It doesn't matter. Wales have already been robbed of two of their best young players because they have sided with England. Why has that happened? We hear constant bitching and moaning from poms saying f...in Aussies this and f...in Aussies that and then when they do the same thing it's brushed under the carpet. Faasavalu is Samoan and Samoa was robbed of a born and bred Samoan player. Then we saw the likes of Bridge and Harrison leave Ireland to play for England, not to mention a host of others after the 2000 WC who did the same. It's all the same old stuff. Except the "f...in Aussies" get accused of everything under the sun while England does the same, and worse, and it's never mentioned.

Stop talking bollocks. The only one I'll give you is Bridge but even he was enticed away by an Aussie (Smith ;-)) So because two Welsh kids "side" with England it's OUR fault!!!!! Fa'asavalu for all the use he was had never played rugby LEAGUE for Samoa. He qualified WITHIN the rules on residential grounds. I didn't like it any more than you ECT but he WAS legit unlike some recent Australian targets.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Aussie targets? And you reckon I'm talking bollocks.

Every single person that has ever played rugby league for Australia has been produced by Australian RL. And as such they all have every right to play for Australia.

English RL can't say the same. And while you're on Bridge, how about McDermott, O'Connor, Connolly and Lowes - all played for Ireland in 2000 and then England in 2001. Now there's two kids who only live in England because an English club signed them from Wales and they are turning their backs in Wales for England. If you want to spout sh*t about "Aussie targets" then what are these young blokes? Surely they must be English targets. And if so it is an absolute disgrace. Born and bred Welsh kids poached by England before they're even out of juniors. If you want to suggest Australia pinched players from other countries, even though they are all Australians in relaity, then what must you make of this situation?

 

[deluded pom?]

It makes it conjecture by you at the moment.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

So it's conjecture when England tempts a Welsh player over but it's a wide-ranging ARL conspiracy when an Australian player who could play for someone else plays for Australia. Genius.

 

[roughyedspud]

england don't tempt player.....the players choose


danny brough chose to switch....if we tempted him we would have played him,god knows we could have done with him on the upcoming tour...

gareth carvell switched 4? years before making a england squad...

chris bridge saw he could make the team,cos we're that poor in the centers,so in accordance with RLIF rules he switched..same goes for ben harrison

in australia the NSWRL & QLD actively chase playing into switching...or indeed warn players about the ramifications of going to play for another nation...ie robbie farah

hope that clears it up

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Prove it. How the hell do the states actively chase player? It's bullsh*t. Meanwhile we have a Warrington player switching to England under a Warrington England coach and we're supposed to be believe he just happened to choose to change. It's a complete double standards on the part of poms with a chip on their shoulder who blame everything on Australia but won't admit to doing the same themselves.

 

[roughyedspud]

what rules where broken to enable bridge & harrison to switch to england??


talk about double standards......uate & costigan spring to mind pal...

 

[East Coast Tiger]

What rules were broken to allow Costigan to play for Qld? He's never played for Australia. And Uate has never played Origin or for Australia. And you dare to talk abotu double standards when you and your pommy mates do nothing but bitch about Australia selecting Australians to play for Australia. Yet you are happy to see Wales lose its best young players all because your clubs poach them with $$$$$ from Wales.

 

[jim_57]

What rules were broken to allow Costigan to play for Qld? He's never played for Australia. And Uate has never played Origin or for Australia. And you dare to talk abotu double standards when you and your pommy mates do nothing but bitch about Australia selecting Australians to play for Australia. Yet you are happy to see Wales lose its best young players all because your clubs poach them with $$$$$ from Wales.

Uate was chased by NSW, there's no denying it. For months people in the media were crapping on about getting him eligable and all it really took was for Geoff Carr to say "he played for Fiji more out of naivity" and well god help the poor soul he didn't know what he was doing we'll just break the rules to get him to play for our team.

It was also a clear breach of the rules since he played for Fiji last year but all of a sudden is eligable. Yet Costigan has never played for Australia but can't play for PNG?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

If NSW were so keen to get Uate he would have played Origin. Just because some fools in the media talked it up doesn't mean "NSW chased him". It's sh*t but once again he was developed by Australian RL. And I can gaurantee you he's not the only player to switch in the past year. Not that he has switched really because he hasn't played for Australia.

 

[Chung25]

Dont know for sure but i would guess the welsh lads have made themselves available for england so they can play for the academy against the aussie schoolboys, which i would say is fair enough seen as they play in our academy structure. You would hope they will then switch back to wales to play senior internationals.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

They were already in the senior Wales squad. They could have been playing against Ireland this weekend and helping Wales make the 4N.

 

[babyg]

I reckon if they expanded to a 5 nations the 4 vs 5 game would be a ripper. and they could have the draw so they would only have to play 2 of the big 3 teams instead of all 3.

In response to the topic. No it won't fail but they need to start publicising the tournament and is there going to be coverage in the southern states. There better be.

 

[hutch]

I reckon if they expanded to a 5 nations the 4 vs 5 game would be a ripper. and they could have the draw so they would only have to play 2 of the big 3 teams instead of all 3.

In response to the topic. No it won't fail but they need to start publicising the tournament and is there going to be coverage in the southern states. There better be.

i think every game between countries 4-10 would be a ripper. we have 3 standout test teams and then another 7 quality teams which are all capable of beating each other on the day.

 

[league13]

Gt Britain are suppose to be playing the Moaris this coming weekend but still no word whether they have arrived in the country yet,Maybe they came in the backdoor, which is easy to do for visiting league teams in NZ.

 

[Springs]

They've been in Auckland for the past week.

 

[DINGb@T]

PNG getting flogged wont be a real problem because most of their games will barely make the news let alone get televised.

The real important game is the Australia vs Kiwis game. If the Kiwis win the tournament again then it will really start to destroy the 'unbeatable Australians' tag.

 

[siv]

I beleive the concept of 4 nations is working

RL has a new focus in Oct-Nov - with a volume of international matches in progress

In time we will see 4 Nations grow to 6, as teams play against each more and players realise that they can play internationals - not just SOO

 

[league13]

They've been in Auckland for the past week.

They must have come in by the backdoor then. I get the paper each day and watch the news and ain't heard a thing.
How can you expect to get decent gates with no publicity?

 

[roughyedspud]

they landed on sunday.....


had a few training days....and went out on a couple of american cup yachts a day or 2 ago apparently