It’s time to open up the outdated State of Origin eligibility rules
As it stands, Addin Fonua-Blake is prohibited from playing State of Origin because he represented New Zealand in one Test in 2017.
He was born in Meadowbank in Sydney’s west and played junior footy for Mascot Jets. How is he any less of a New South Welshman than the others who don the sky blue?
Sharks prop, Tonga star and one-time New Zealand international Addin Fonua-Blake.Credit: Getty Images
Why can’t the Sydney-born, Bronte-raised Victor Radley play for NSW if he chooses to pay respect to his heritage and represent England instead of Australia?
The rules are antiquated and designed in an era before the second generation of migrant families, who call Australia home but are proud of their ancestral roots, had such an impact on the game.
This notion that State of Origin is a selection trial for the Kangaroos is a fallacy and an argument used by those who have no desire to see Australia dethroned as the No.1 rugby league nation.
The selection trial is the 30 weeks of the NRL season. Lindsay Smith didn’t need Origin last year to earn a spot in the Kangaroos squad – just an impressive finals campaign for Penrith.
Victor Radley in England colours in 2022.Credit: PA Images via Getty Images
It’s this sort of short-sightedness that has seen rugby union make significant strides on a global scale, leaving rugby league fighting for survival in the United Kingdom and relying on the Pacific to drive any sort of competition on the international front.
The NRL has reached a point where it has realised it needs to grow globally to shore up its future. Its foray into the United States is a reflection of that.
Its potential purchase of the Super League is nothing but an attempt to save a sport that is on life support in the United Kingdom, to safeguard its own relevance in a region that is fast adopting rugby union as its No.2 sport behind soccer.
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As it stands, the rules only allow a player like Haas to change his allegiance from a tier one nation to a tier two nation. That has to change.
The blueprint is what Luai and To’o have done. Both were born in Sydney to families of Samoan heritage. Both elected to represent Samoa instead of playing for Australia and have not swayed in their thinking.
The NRL now is caught in a difficult situation. It doesn’t want to dilute or diminish the financial windfall that is Origin, but it also finds itself in the position of needing to grow the international game so that there isn’t such a discrepancy between Origin payments and international payments.
Recent collective bargaining agreement negotiations saw Test match payments reduced to just $3000. The deal took money away from the Kangaroos to ensure parity across all the nations.
In contrast, players receive $30,000 for an Origin game. It’s why some people raise the argument that some players only want to play Origin because of the money, not because of a genuine attachment to the state. The game has to be OK with the fact it can be both.
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