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?
