Residency rule extended to 5 years

[Evil Homer]

And again we will see a 14 team tournament where 80% of the players are Aus, NZ or English.
Unless NGB's are willing to commit to domestic players, then the locals are always going to be shunned purely for the desire to make games "look good".
Demanding 33% of a team being domestic is hardly too much to ask if the RLIF expects those same players to develop RL in their home nation to the point of meeting membership criteria.
Tired of the "You guys do all the hard work on the ground, then we will fly in others to be in the photos on front of the thing you built for the press".

It's up to the NGBs to do the right thing. The issue in the USA was that you had a rogue governing body that was allowed to operate unchecked for far too long. 95% of the time the NGBs are the ones doing the work on the ground, and they should be trusted/counted on to do the right thing. Creating rules with the aim of forcing nations to select certain players isn't a constructive move IMO.

 

[adamkungl]

Yeah.. I can see both sides, but I tend to agree that over-regulation should be avoided. And a similar goal can be achieved by changing the grandparent rule to the parent rule, avoiding icky things like quotas which force nations hands in how to pick their team.

A high level example, England the next 2 years. They need to decide what's best for them. If they want to stack their team with 2nd rate NRL stars looking for an easy rep jumper, then they can within the rules. Is it the best option for them? Short term, *maybe*. Flimsy claim at best that the players they are looking at are any better than home grown English-born. Long term, I'd say a negative for English development. But if they get a big win out of it, it might spur on greater growth. It's their gamble.

If I was in charge of the USA or another nation that might pull in Aussies to supplement their squad, I'd aim for a roughly half-half split. You need to give the best week-in-week-out players the reward for their work. You also need professional experience. Get some committed guys from pro-levels in each position as mentors for the less experienced players.
If you lean too heavy towards home grown, you'll get towelled up in the pool stages.
If you stack it with Aussie-Americans you'll get flogged in the quarters anyway, if you even progress.
Find the compromise that best develops the sport and still gives you a decent shot at making the quarters. Finishing above Fiji is gonna be a tough ask but it's not impossible.

 

[langpark]

The rules extend the qualification period for residence to 5 years whilst ensuring that players from developing nations with dual eligibility are not prevented from participating in the Rugby League World Cup.
The way I read that is if one of the big 3 don't want a player and that player has dual eligibility then they can play for the other country they qualify for and they can do it immediately.

I'm glad someone highlighted that.

correct me if I'm wrong but is this just one of the biggest smokescreens we've ever seen? They've thrown us some crumbs of good news in order to distract us while they make the eligibility rules even more farcical than ever!

As someone said, it's vague, but to me it sounds like players with a dual nationality will be free to jump back and forth between nations whenever they feel like it. I hope we get some clarification on this soon.

 

[roughyedspud]

I didn't even clock it at first......

They've changed two rules but hid the 2nd behind the residency law