Tonga v Samoa teams for Oct 7

[MRLA]

As I said in an earlier post I am just glad to see a player like McKonkie Tauasa who was actually born in Samoa now playing for his country. Hopefully this will be the first of plenty of games for him in the Blue of Samoa.

McKonkie for one, may not play.

 

[Ari Gold]

Look at the squads and you will notice a common theme bar two exceptions in Feleti Mateo and Tyrone Smith - NO NZ based players, NO English based players and certainly NO Samoan or Tongan players!!!

This game is run by the ARL and we can all guess where the money raised from the match will go. ARL!

I dont want to disrespect any players as I know they all play at a fairly good level, but if people are going to try and justify these teams as fully blown Test teams I think they are kidding themselves.

I have spoken to the Samoa Rugby League and know for certain that they have several players who this season played for the Manu Samoa side against the Wallabies that now play both codes. Surely one or two of these players at least could have been selected??? And Tonga, what about players like Luaki, Latu and Toshio Laiseni from the Warriors and Tame Tupou from the Broncos who were either all born in Tonga or at least spent a great deal of time back in their native lands???

As I said in an earlier post I am just glad to see a player like McKonkie Tauasa who was actually born in Samoa now playing for his country. Hopefully this will be the first of plenty of games for him in the Blue of Samoa.

lol the money going to the ARL... that is so stupid.

We should be thankful that the ARL got off their asses and organised a game of this standard. I'd doubt that the Tongan and Samoan RL organisations would have bothered organising this game. This game really isn't about promoting RL in Tonga or Samoa, it's about making quality NRL players align themselves to a certain country, so when WC 2008 comes along Samoa and Tonga have a whole bunch of quality players to call upon.

Also i'd doubt that any players playing in Tonga or samoa would be better than any of the players on the teamlists.

Latu has played for NZ already, we don't want anymore dual international players....

 

[griff]

If these sides were just picked by the ARL, that is a disgrace. If the official governing bodies of Samoa and Tonga didn't have anything to do with them, are they officially representing Samoa and Tonga or are they just Samoan and Tongan XIIIs?

 

[screeny]

robyalvaro, it's not about making the side better or the best, surely it's about impriving the SAmoan and Tongan RLs, and that means liaising with them in the lead up to this game.

If the ARL took control of everything without even consulting or teaching the island RLs then what's the point? It means that the 2008 WC will be a cosmetic event with some Australian based 'island' sides wearing some colourful strip that will never be worn competitively again, contested by players who will never represent Tonga or Samoa again.

Why can't the myopic ARL take Europe's example: in this year's ENC 6 squad players must play in the local comp.

 

[freeridermx]

so is this a full on test match or what and are these players not going play for new zealand fromm now on eg perenara`s . Phil Leuluai,Hutch Maiava, Kylie Leuluai cause it will look pretty stupid if they line up for nz a few weeks later.

 

[Big Bunny]

so is this a full on test match or what and are these players not going play for new zealand fromm now on eg perenara`s . Phil Leuluai,Hutch Maiava, Kylie Leuluai cause it will look pretty stupid if they line up for nz a few weeks later.

Good question. I don't believe that in any way should the game be considered a Test without each team being controlled by their governing bodies. If the ARL are doing this without consulting Tonga and Samoa then those nations have every right to blow up big time.

 

[playdaball]

Perenara -Maori. Perhaps there is a Samoan connection somewhere there via Mother?

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

Look at the squads and you will notice a common theme bar two exceptions in Feleti Mateo and Tyrone Smith - NO NZ based players, NO English based players and certainly NO Samoan or Tongan players!!!

This game is run by the ARL and we can all guess where the money raised from the match will go. ARL!

I dont want to disrespect any players as I know they all play at a fairly good level, but if people are going to try and justify these teams as fully blown Test teams I think they are kidding themselves.

I have spoken to the Samoa Rugby League and know for certain that they have several players who this season played for the Manu Samoa side against the Wallabies that now play both codes. Surely one or two of these players at least could have been selected??? And Tonga, what about players like Luaki, Latu and Toshio Laiseni from the Warriors and Tame Tupou from the Broncos who were either all born in Tonga or at least spent a great deal of time back in their native lands???

As I said in an earlier post I am just glad to see a player like McKonkie Tauasa who was actually born in Samoa now playing for his country. Hopefully this will be the first of plenty of games for him in the Blue of Samoa.

Batifan ! I think that Samoan rugby league person you talk too was talking alot of shi* .
Not one rugby league player played for the Manu Samoa test against the Wallabies in june .

How can a rugby league player represent the Manu Samoan when there was no league in Samoa for over 3 years ?

 

[Ari Gold]

why does everyone think that the ARL didn't even consult the Samoan or Tongan RL?

 

[Big Bunny]

why does everyone think that the ARL didn't even consult the Samoan or Tongan RL?

Everyone?

I count only one bloke who made an inference to that being the case whilst others are only questioning the matter or giving opinions on the possibility.

 

[yakstorm]

The ARL did consult with both the Tongan and Samoan Rugby League bodies, I find it quite interesting that the Tongan RL body has been able to have quite an extensive and successful involvement with the ARL in getting their team going, whilst the Samoan Rugby League has acctually been the exact opposite.

Whilst I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty here, cause its not my area to, the ARL approached both bodies, plus RLIF with the concept. Their idea was to hold an international involving Australian based players at an Australian venue involving players eligable for either nation. Whether the match was given test status was dependant on the two governing bodies, the TRL and SRL approving that as they are both Test nations.

The process of how it was going to be setup has been made quite transparent to both bodies and at all time the ARL did not stop either body making changes or suggestions to what they proposed. The TRL has been quite active with the whole process, and very helpful to the ARL, I'll put it this way, the SRL has not been considered the same.

I have to agree with PW, no player with 'recognised' RL history played for Manu Samoa against the Wallabies, and if any have crossed since, it hasn't made the news in Samoa.

 

[Copa]

If it wasn't for this forum I'd have no idea this game is to be played.

 

[roopy]

If it wasn't for this forum I'd have no idea this game is to be played.

Me niether. In fact, I've been telling people about the game all day, and most don't believe me because they haven't seen it reported in the media.

 

[screeny]

Cheers for the news Yakstorm, it's a relief to know that the ARL consulted fully with the island RLs in question.

 

[hutch]

we are going exactly down the path we went for the 2000 world cup. teams with no credibility, players playing for more than one country, players playing for countries they havnt even been to, no players from the local comp, basically teams full of aussies and kiwis. i cannot believe they are not taking this game to the islands to promote he game over there.

positives - at least the game is being played. good looking teams, should be a high quality match.

just so dissapointing that we continually take the easy road instead of trying to build the game in these countries.

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

Yarkstorm is right . I've still got the Samoan newspaper which I bought two month ago . It had a article on it about the game in Sydney and it was the Samoan Rugby League secretary Rev Hemi Faleupolu that was interview .

So they must have been consult by the ARL . But there is a long way to go for Samoan league .
Because there is still two groups (SRL & NZSRL) fighting for controlled of league in Samoa .

 

[screeny]

PW, what was the reverend saying? Blandishments and oddities?

Sheesh, Georgia and Samoa both with two governing bodies fighting for control!

Hutch, surely it won't be as bad as 2000! Surely....?

The sight of national team coaches (more like mercenaries, men who had no loyalty or allegiance to their 'nations') scrabbling about for NRL players with some hint, any hint, of ancestral eligibility two weeks before the tournament (hang your head in shame Shaun McRae) was the first signal for me that we were walking towards a precipice.

At least the ARL consulted with the TRL and SRL and if the TRL is well on board then that's a huge positive. I just don't see why they couldn't have added some Tongan players to the squad. There's nothing better for inspiring your playing ranks back home than the prospect of playing in a World Cup. But on the other side of that coin why would Tongan players get excited if they know that they're not going to get a look in in 2008?

 

[hutch]

i know the rlif pretty much does not exist, but why are the arl running this event. the national body of australia, running a game involving 2 other countries, where the majority of players are australian or new zealander. this is not international football, it is a heritage game, should be called 'island of origin' or something like that.

im not saying all players involved shouldnt be there, im sure there are a few who are proud to represent their country and were actually born there, but we could do SO much better than this.

 

[screeny]

i know the rlif pretty much does not exist, but why are the arl running this event. the national body of australia, running a game involving 2 other countries, where the majority of players are australian or new zealander. this is not international football, it is a heritage game, should be called 'island of origin' or something like that.

im not saying all players involved shouldnt be there, im sure there are a few who are proud to represent their country and were actually born there, but we could do SO much better than this.

Very true...it seems as though, when presented with opportunities to promote the RLIF as an extant body, RL spectacularly fails to do so. It wouldn't have cost owt to herald the RLIF as organising this and consulting with the TRL and SRL, but instead it's been left to the ARL (of course we know there's no difference but for appearance's sake it would have been better).

 

[bender]

i know the rlif pretty much does not exist, but why are the arl running this event. the national body of australia, running a game involving 2 other countries, where the majority of players are australian or new zealander. this is not international football, it is a heritage game, should be called 'island of origin' or something like that.

im not saying all players involved shouldnt be there, im sure there are a few who are proud to represent their country and were actually born there, but we could do SO much better than this.

How about waiting until after before judging. If (and i hope this is the proviso they are working on), it is now one country for life, Samoa and Tonga both have the basis of a competive team now. The game can grow in stature from here and players can be proud to commit to these two teams knowing that they will be a part of representative football, for the long term.

Samoa v Tonga as I understand is a massive rivalry, both here, in New Zealand and back on the islands. If this game works out, i can see there eventually being one game in Australia, New Zealand and on the Islands, in the longer term. And I think it has the potential to grow to get big audiences in all three areas and become profitable. If this year is a success, it may even be possible to get a game complementing the origin games when Gold Coast come into the competition.