5 replies to this topic

[steavis]

http://stevemascord....ay-let-us-play/

[nadera78]

I blooming well hope not! Another ARL-led player grab.

[hutch]

That team would be a joke which would do nothing for the pacific islands. It would allow players to play for some fake pacific team without committing to an island nation and still be eligible for Australia and new zealand!

A pacific island test team could have a place in our game if it was done correctly with players committed to png, Fiji, tonga, Samoa! This proposed team also has Maori players in it, so I'm assuming all kiwis would be a part of it! No thanks! We need to stop doing things half hearted!

[EastLondonMike]

Awful idea in the suggested format. If an all-stars team is to play, make it an nrl all-stars team, and dont insult the real players from the pacific islands.

[Big Picture]

Awful idea in the suggested format. If an all-stars team is to play, make it an nrl all-stars team, and dont insult the real players from the pacific islands.

Which real players from the Pacific islands are you referring to? As far as I can tell practically all of these "Pacific island" players in the NRL grew up in either Australia or New Zealand and there are none actually from those islands. Everyone needs to realize that except possibly for PNG there won't ever be any competitive national teams from those countries that don't rely on heritage players more or less exclusively.

[nadera78]

Which real players from the Pacific islands are you referring to? As far as I can tell practically all of these "Pacific island" players in the NRL grew up in either Australia or New Zealand and there are none actually from those islands. Everyone needs to realize that except possibly for PNG there won't ever be any competitive national teams from those countries that don't rely on heritage players more or less exclusively.

Which is why it would be great to have a genuine PI team playing against England, etc. Those players would get the chance to give the big boys a run for their money when combined, and then get to go back to playing for their individual countries.

This current proposal is just another way of keeping the big three ahead of everyone else.