USA Hawks 2017 World Cup

[Rugger]

The USA team for the 2017 World Cup has been selected -

Taylor Alley (Ctrl Florida Warriors)
Ryan Burroughs (Toronto Wolfpack)
Charles Cortalano (White Plains Wombats)
Joe Eichner (Toronto Wolfpack)
Burreta Fariamo (NZ Warriors)
Gabriel Farley (Philadelphia Fight)
Kristian Freed (White Plains Wombats)
Daniel Howard (Wentworthville Magpies)
Steven Howard (Mounties)
Martwain Johnston (Delaware Black Foxes)
Andrew Kneisly (Philadelphia Fight)
Corey Makelim (Mounties)
Hiko Malu (Atlanta Rhinos)
Dave Marando (Belrose Eagles)
Nick Newlin (Atlanta Rhinos)
Mark Offerdahl (London Broncos)
Eddy Pettybourne (Tweed Heads Seagulls)
Joshua Rice (New York Knights)
Matt Shipway (South Newcastle)
Sam Tochterman (Tweed Heads Seagulls)
David Ulch (Tampa Mayhem)
Junior Vai Vai (Illawarra Wests Devils)
Matthew Walsh (White Plains Wombats)

Half of the team is current USARL players. BRAVO!

 

[adamkungl]

Congrats to everyone involved, hope they get a win or 2 on the board!

 

[East Coast Tiger]

It does seem to be an improvement in terms of domestic players and/or born and bred Americans.

Last time there were seven players from domestic clubs and Mike Garvey as an American overseas. This time there's 11 from domestic clubs plus the two Wolfpack players. I can only assume all of the others are heritage. It's a step forward in that way. Of course they'll struggle to win a game this time but I'd rather see this squad than the last one.

 

[adamkungl]

USA have one of the toughest draws in the comp, playing both PNG and Fiji in the tropics. Gonna be tough!

 

[roughyedspud]

I'm still waiting for my USA hawks jersey for suggesting the hawks nickname

 

[Evil Homer]

No Casey Clark or Kevin Wiggins is a surprise.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Clark has retired.

 

[morningstar]

What's the source for the squad? Can't find anything online.

Why only 23 players?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Yeah I went looking for it and couldn't find it. Seems odd.

 

[Rugger]

Yeah I went looking for it and couldn't find it. Seems odd.

Official press release is not out yet, but this the squad (obviously pending any last minute changes).

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Official press release is not out yet, but this the squad (obviously pending any last minute changes).

Is there a name missing or have they only named 23?

 

[StadiumXIII]

The USA team for the 2017 World Cup has been selected -

Taylor Alley (Ctrl Florida Warriors)
Ryan Burroughs (Toronto Wolfpack)
Charles Cortalano (White Plains Wombats)
Joe Eichner (Toronto Wolfpack)
Burreta Fariamo (NZ Warriors)
Gabriel Farley (Philadelphia Fight)
Kristian Freed (White Plains Wombats)
Daniel Howard (Wentworthville Magpies)
Steven Howard (Mounties)
Martwain Johnston (Delaware Black Foxes)
Andrew Kneisly (Philadelphia Fight)
Corey Makelim (Mounties)
Hiko Malu (Atlanta Rhinos)
Dave Marando (Belrose Eagles)
Nick Newlin (Atlanta Rhinos)
Mark Offerdahl (London Broncos)
Eddy Pettybourne (Tweed Heads Seagulls)
Joshua Rice (New York Knights)
Matt Shipway (South Newcastle)
Sam Tochterman (Tweed Heads Seagulls)
David Ulch (Tampa Mayhem)
Junior Vai Vai (Illawarra Wests Devils)
Matthew Walsh (White Plains Wombats)

Half of the team is current USARL players. BRAVO!

Would've like to see Joseph Paulo and Joey Vuna from the Warriors in there even Connor Donehue (both American born) from the Sunshine Coast Falcons but it's still good to see plenty of local Americans on the team and should do them proud to even get a win would be a massive achievement.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

Finally, a league that understands that unless you interest the local stakeholders then participating in the World Cup means very little.

You can stack the team with foreigners and win the whole thing, but what is the point if the repercussions are not felt back home?

 

[Golden point]

They're gunna get creamed!
When they get beat by 60 we can all reflect on how great it is to use domestic players.....

 

[East Coast Tiger]

It's not even about domestic players. It's about legitimate players. The last WC did nothing for the sport in the US. It made the quarter finals and yet it might as well have not been involved at all.

 

[deal.with.it]

RL is fortunate that historic migration allows them a global sporting event, but RL really needs to look at its competitors - FIBA, ICC, WR, FIFA and follow the proven way to develop a global sport... not just a global event.

 

[Golden point]

RL is fortunate that historic migration allows them a global sporting event, but RL really needs to look at its competitors - FIBA, ICC, WR, FIFA and follow the proven way to maintain a global sport... not just a global event.

We don't have a global sport to maintain.

 

[Pommy]

We don't have a global sport to maintain.

And why is that? Why are you so keen to watch Australians, kiwis and poms play it out once every four years? You can literally watch that every year already.

America seem to have got a nice balance, they may not be competitive but they wouldn’t win it even if every player was heritage.

 

[expansionist]

any idea on why Joseph Paulo isnt named?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Any idea why there's only 23? I still haven't seen an answer to that. Are all squads only going to be 23 instead of 24?