What now International Forum? Hot takes from the past two weeks.

[adamkungl]

What should happen is that starting from 1st January 2020 anybody picked in an international sides match day 17 is tied to that nation for the rest of his playing career. No nation swapping allowed from that date on.

Yeah I don't agree with this at all.
100% in favour of the flexible rules.

 

[Walter sobchak]

Yeah I don't agree with this at all.
100% in favour of the flexible rules.

That leaves the game open to ridicule.

 

[Burns]

That leaves the game open to ridicule.

It doesn't but? Like, it doesn't matter as much that people make the fuss over.

Tier's are a really silly term, but they work for rugby league as it is now.

 

[Walter sobchak]

It doesn't but? Like, it doesn't matter as much that people make the fuss over.

Tier's are a really silly term, but they work for rugby league as it is now.

You don’t wince a little when players are picked in 2 or sometimes 3 international squads? Or when somebody plays for 1 nation in 1 match and then another nation in the next?

 

[Perth Red]

You don’t wince a little when players are picked in 2 or sometimes 3 international squads? Or when somebody plays for 1 nation in 1 match and then another nation in the next?

As long as it is not in same year then not really. Its a reality of where RL is at. We want the best players to pick the lower teams so we have to give them some incentive to do so, that includes not cutting ties with the lucrative opportunity to play for one of the big three at some point in their career. Maybe a two year commitment pledge would be a better alternative?

 

[hutch]

That leaves the game open to ridicule.

Who cares.

 

[hutch]

You don’t wince a little when players are picked in 2 or sometimes 3 international squads? Or when somebody plays for 1 nation in 1 match and then another nation in the next?

I used to. But now I realise that rugby league has to do it this way or not at all. It’s actually an advantage that we have over other sports, some people have more than one nationality and we allow people to play for both.

 

[Springs09]

That leaves the game open to ridicule.

From who? Union idiots who care too much about another code? League fans with nothing better to do than shit on their own sport? Who gives a shit?

Never understood the viewpoints thinking we should plan our sport around what negative merkins whinge about.

 

[adamkungl]

Looks like it leaves the game open to successful Pacific island teams tbh

This debate has been done to death for years I'm not diving into it again

 

[paulmac]

Seriously, we should stop talking about tier 1 nations because outside of eligibility rules it isn't a useful or even defined concept and just muddies the waters with nonsense discussions like the one you quoted.

In reality a tier 1 nation is determined by the IRL stating that Australia, New Zealand, and England are tier 1 and everyone else isn't - purely for eligibility purposes.
If there is an official critiera, it isn't written on their website.

But we can logically assume that tier 1 nations have:

the finance ability to tour and host test matches,
first grade professional player depth enough to fill more than 1 squad,
local development of professional players

Tier 1 nations are effectively fully professional from top to bottom.
Aus, NZ and England are the only nations for which this is true.

Tonga have no reliable local pathways and rely on NZ and Aus development
France and PNG don't have enough first graders to reliably fill their team

How about you can’t become a tier 1 nation until you win a World Cup. Something only Aus, NZ & GB/England have managed anyway. Will shit the argument up for 4 years.

 

[Walter sobchak]

Who cares.

Obviously not you.

 

[Walter sobchak]

I used to. But now I realise that rugby league has to do it this way or not at all. It’s actually an advantage that we have over other sports, some people have more than one nationality and we allow people to play for both.

When it suits them usually.

 

[hutch]

When it suits them usually.

Which works for rugby league.

 

[Matua]

Which works for rugby league.

It works for fans of teams who aren't getting effected by it currently.

They need a declaration on 1 Jan and the players are locked in ... it's idiotic to allow a player to change teams on the eve of a match or a tournament.

 

[Springs09]

It works for fans of teams who aren't getting effected by it currently.

They need a declaration on 1 Jan and the players are locked in ... it's idiotic to allow a player to change teams on the eve of a match or a tournament.

You mean it works for everyone except whiny little Kiwi bitches bitching about players wanting to play for another nation.

 

[Matua]

You mean it works for everyone except whiny little Kiwi bitches bitching about players wanting to play for another nation.

GFY - the players can play for whoever they want, but only league would allow players to change on the eve of a tournament. It's stupid for all teams involved not to know who is available for election.

But yeah, you carry on pretending there's no issues with it as it currently stands so you can score some internet tough guy points.

 

[taste2taste]

Leave the rules as they are.

It makes the tier 2 nations stronger and the international game more competitive.

The problem with locking players in is if they don't get picked for the nation they nominated themselves then they don't get to play for anyone and its the tier 2 country that suffers.
Use Eto Nabuli as an example, born and raised in Fiji , played 1 game with the Wallabies, was never picked again and under Union rules isn't allowed to play for Fiji even though they would love to have him. Because he chose Australia his international career was 1 game long.

The Union fanboys love throwing mud at league because of our eligibility rules but they are starting to talk about letting players play for smaller nations if they aren't selected for a top team. They would kill for a competitive pacific island teams.

 

[Pommy]

England and tonga should swap tiers

If you believe that you don’t understand what the tiers even mean.

 

[adamkungl]

I agree with @Matua , mostly
Players jumping between nations mid-year is frustrating, especially right before a tournament
But don't want to see a situation where a player declares for NZ, doesnt get selected, then cant play for anyone. We need our best players playing to get the best game possible.


I'd propose
By Jan 31 each year, every player is required to declare 1 and 2 representative preferences.
Eg.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
1 New Zealand
2 Samoa

4 weeks before a test or tournament, nations select train-on squad from the list of players that have #1 preferenced them.
3 weeks before, they finalise their squad from the list of players that have #2 preferenced them and have not been selected by their #1 preference.

In the above example, RTS can not play for Samoa this year unless he is not selected by New Zealand.

 

[myrrh ken]

If you believe that you don’t understand what the tiers even mean.

Tier 1 are good teams.

Tier 2 are bad ones.