UTK

Don't mind an upset here, bit of a flipped script in respect of the buildup to the RLWC opener last year (though I don't expect anything in the realm of the shock we saw there). Tonga squad has been in camp for 2 weeks now whereas the Wigan and Catalans contingent would've enjoyed their respective celebrations/commiserations before joining camp early this week. In what I can only imagine might be a first, if not a significant rarity - the Tongan spine will have more International experience than their Tier 1 counterparts: Lolohea (17 Tests) and Havili (16) are certified veterans of the arena now while Koula (3) and Katoa (3) were both initiated during the WC last year. Comparatively, Welsby (6) and Clark (10) have seen the arena before but the likely halves pairing consists of a debutant in Lewis and Smith who only has a mid-season debut against an understrength France to his name. If Woolf decides to run Hopoate over Koula at fullback I would probably throw this upset out the window. I wouldn't be surprised if he Hoppa lines up on the wing in the absence of Tonga's most-capped player in Daniel Tupou and that scenario would be much more palatable. Farnworth and Wardle are big losses as an understrength Tongan set of outside backs was looking like a mismatch and a half for England but that gap closes a touch now. With all of the above considered I think the highly experienced and immensely talented Tongan forwards come out the gate firing and set a very strong platform for Tonga's halves, expect Isaiya Katoa to leverage the additional season of experience he's gained with the Dolphins and demonstrate why the hype surrounding him is warranted. I don't love backing against the toughness inherent within England's pack in front of their own fans but I think the lack of experience in the spine leaves them open to being ambushed by a Tongan side on a mission to create history in the first test. If England do cop an upset or receive a big scare in the first test I expect them to kick into gear immediately and be ready to go at Huddersfield.

Even in the Cairns-based scenario they would be playing the vast majority of home games in PNG I'd say because otherwise there's not much point. You would have to convince the likes of Olam, Ipape, Putt, Tai, Namo, etc. to give up their current gigs and go back to PNG, that in itself is far from guaranteed but plausible especially if the right money is on offer. But even if you do, you've still got less than 10 players currently signed to NRL/SL clubs, the Hunters have languished in the bottom third of QCup for several years now and as observed every year in the State Championship the QCup is a some way off NSW Cup let alone the NRL. Across 25+ rounds of an NRL season those numbers don't currently stack up, I wouldn't rule out the odd upset in front of those notorious PNG crowds but the 50+ beltings every other week would do more harm than good overall.

Kiwis 'A' Team List to face Tonga 'A' this weekend

I think it's a near guarantee that they will be based in Australia initially, unless they aren't concerned with on-field results which would be a poor approach in itself. While it may be true that players are just happy to play in the NRL regardless of being based in PNG that's not necessarily the full equation. To create a competitive side you're competing for players with 17 other NRL clubs who can offer the same amount of money AND the added benefit of not having to live in a 3rd world country with some of the highest rates of violent crime in the entire world. It becomes a difficult sell to say the least. For being based in PNG to work properly they realistically need an NRL-quality PNG player pool of something like 50 players and cap dispensation to entice domestic products to continue playing for the club. The upside is that proper development pathways in PNG could go from what is currently a player pool of 1 (Many of the SL Kumuls could do it but they haven't yet) to 50 in an relatively short period of time, still several years but the base that exists is undoubtedly a future tier 1 level.

Looks like the monstrous government backing has effectively forced the NRL's hand, word is 2025 is when they would start. They're nowhere near ready for 2025 and going early could have strong negative consequences. Devil will be in the detail, they can't be based in PNG anytime soon unless you want 80+ drubbings every week which will not be appreciated by the PNG public. IF we somehow manage to cling on and make this work it could accelerate the inevitable PNG RL behemoth significantly, however I'm a touch apprehensive at this stage.

Hasn't been mentioned since the naming of the squad but going off their team photo at some point Junior Tupou has replaced Daniel Tupou in Tonga's squad.

But is the gap big enough between those guys and the next younger option in line to justify their place in the squad. While I agree first and foremost winning the Tongan series is important there has to be a degree of future planning IMO, especially for the more fringe players in the squad. I don't necessarily see a Farrell being a first-17 player for this series (could be wrong) so would his place be better off filled by a KPP/Nicholson/Smithies type - someone who might be better placed in the future by receiving the experience of either being with the squad or notching another cap against quality opposition.

https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-league/thats-my-journey-done-at-wigan-kai-pearce-paul-hails-perfect-ending-as-rising-star-reveals-nrl-plans-and-will-pryce-friendship-4372532 After reading this interview with KPP the other day his omission feels a bit strange. Says he'd been given a "rough hint" from Wane that he's in line for a callup.

The significance of this tour possibly failing financially shouldn't be understated, this is the chance to establish feasibility for the Island nations touring England to provide consistent test matches in England even if AUS/NZ were preoccupied. The only reason this tour came into existence was because the NRL bottled their CBA negotiations and therefore wouldn't commit to the Pacific Championships, England had been in talks with Tonga since the WC and Tonga took the only option that was on the table at that time. All CBA business is sorted now through til the end of 2027, this tour is a golden opportunity for International RL to break free from some of its traditional shackles - if it is a financial success the door opens for Samoa to come across next year. If not, that likely leaves England with Europe next year but history has shown England isn't really interested in that avenue at all so we're probably back to the Combined Nations.

This is absolutely the current reality and one where much work will need to be done in Australia over the next few years. At the same time, the game is still big enough in Australia to sustain a profitable International game even if it isn't considered the pinnacle at this stage. That 18k in Townsville is disappointing and reflects poor strategy on behalf of those in charge yet there's every chance that is the worst attendance of the Pacific Championship (it may not be but it's probably the safest guess). Despite 18k being likely the worst attendance of a poorly constructed Pacific Championship, based on current sales for the England/Tonga series the Townsville crowd could well eclipse attendance of every game in that series (TW capacity doesn't allow it to get above that but nonetheless). While our relative popularity of the International game isn't where it needs to be we're still getting enough following to stage quality International events provided the administration gets a clue (wishful thinking perhaps). It's also going to be an essential strategic vector for developing the game in NZ, which links to the NRL's interests in their next expansion bout so further investment in that area at least wouldn't surprise me.

The NRL shot themselves in the foot by drawing out the CBA and losing Tonga to the England tour, something that is probably lucky to have happened in a sense because if successful it opens up opportunities for other nations that weren't even considerable before. Consequence is that they've lost the nation required to make a competitive 4-team top tier for the Pacific Championships, 3-nation tournaments make no sense unless it's a home/away thing and there's too big a gap to the next level. Made a post the other day about the ridiculous staging strategy of Townsville, it will be interesting to see how Eden Park goes next week - should get a decent enough response but may still be too big for NZ-Samoa at this stage but I guess we'll find out. The Cook Islands are in a tough spot, even though RL is their national sport they simply don't possess the population to sustain a competitive team against even other pacific nations. It's a bit of a miracle that someone like Kayal Iro can be born/raised in CI and make it to the NRL and even that has a lot to do with his family. FTA coverage on a main channel in prime-time is a step forward for post-season internationals which should be noted. Regional Pacific tournament is something that needs to happen (as is also the case for every other region in the World) - RL has well and truly outgrown the previous 4N concept and it makes zero sense for it to return today. The numbers/performance gaps aren't perfect at this stage but the competitions do need to be larger than 3 nations.

Yes it's an unfortunate development in our context specifically, from memory they had one or two with short stints at WWR as well. I know Nianiakis was playing for an amateur side in England prior to the WC last year and there's certainly plenty of amateur-based examples of players from developing nations across both England and Australia but semi-pro opportunities would be ideal. I believe Joran Schoenmaker was another victim of visa troubles after he signed with North Wales, then he played in Mackay in QLD before now landing in Elite One. I'd say moving forward encouraging aspiring talents from developing European nations to try their luck in the Elite comps is probably the most available pathway at this stage, as has been done by a handful of Serbs, Greeks and Italians in recent times. Now Schoenmaker appears to be following in those footsteps. As an aside, someone who I believe has had a hand in many of these unique connections for developing nations is Luke Srama, Phillipines International and former lower-grader + brother of ex-NRL player Matt Srama. He runs 'Srama Rugby League Recruitment' and I believe they got Schoenmaker to both Mackay and Villeneuve while Damel Diakhate is also affiliated with them (not entirely sure if they got him to Hull or not so don't necessarily quote me on that point).

Dudson is the only one playing SL though and he turned his back on Wales internationally years ago, the other 2 made a SL debut over 12 months ago and haven't really played top level since. Distinguishing between RU and RL domestic products doesn't make a great deal of sense when these guys are becoming professional RL players, all of those I've mentioned have come through RL systems to get to the NRL they're not senior converts poached from directly RU professional sides. If you want to rule out those who played RU juniors before transitioning to RL you will remove a chunk of that Wales crop too, but you shouldn't because it ultimately doesn't mean they aren't Wales domestic products. Wales haven't produced consistent SL players since the Crusaders died, but that's not to say they don't have one of the stronger junior talent scenes of developing nations. Regan Grace was the last genuine SL player that has come through, based on your RU background exclusion criteria he wouldn't count - but he should. There is no way to spin it other than this - players born and raised in Tonga have regularly found their way to the NRL over the last 5 years, players born and raised in Wales have not done the same in SL (even Grace was a 2016 or 17 debut I think). Again, this is not intended to have a shot at Wales, when the Crusaders were in SL they produced an extremely strong crop of Welsh products that are now being phased out of the professional game. Tonga's domestic pathways grow every year and their test team strength adds to the International scene significantly, there is no reason to downplay their development with the "heritage" tag. Hopefully the Wales-Salford link can produce more professional players in the next 5 years.

The Dutch are somewhat unknown as a prospect because they haven't had the chance to test themselves against Nations that would stack up at the traditional European Championships 'A' level. It appears they are probably the strongest European nation outside of the home nations when all sides are utilising minimal heritage players, but if they were promoted to a competition of Euros A level or indeed the WC, they would undoubtedly be required to use heritage players to compete - and that's fine. They appear to be building a consistent test calendar year-on-year which is great, and they are obviously taking the appropriate steps toward developing a junior component with the upcoming u19s tour. From a senior team perspective progressing through European Championships structure would be the ideal way to expose their test team to greater challenges - who knows where that competition is left at this stage and that probably deserves another thread on its own. Overall they look to be a very well-run organisation who are building their domestic scene sustainably over time. Unfortunately I've blown this out to a bit of a ranting thesis but the point is - heritage players are necessary if these Nations are to compete at the WC or larger tournaments against the big boys. Most of these nations have zero genuine pathways to the professional game, putting wholly amateur sides up against professionals is dangerous and does not advance domestic progress. The IRL have absolutely done a poor job of upholding standards that ensure domestic participation underlies "heritage team" participation at major tournaments - despite the disastrous drop to 10 teams, only allowing full members to participate is a step in the right direction and the standards for full membership should be enforced upon current members who are no longer meeting those requirements. Focus for the IRL should be on assisting developing nations toward full-membership standards, supporting regional bodies in developing consistent senior tournaments that allow for progressive challenges in terms of opponents and fostering links between junior tournaments and professional pathways.

My apologies, you're correct with 12. I had in my head that the Olds brothers were Australian because they've been over here for some time now, but nonetheless 12 v 8 is only a 50% difference despite Wales as you correctly point out having nearly 10x the domestic player pool to draw from. Thereby Greece are utilising a greater proportion of domestic players relative to their available player pool. The point wasn't to have a shot at Wales, but rather wrap Greece - Greece could easily have filled their squad with 100% heritage players for the WC and had better results. They didn't, instead they took a squad composed of 1/3 domestic players and gave them all experience at that level while solidifying the pathways from their domestic game to the International side. Putting a wholly domestic or even half domestic side into the WC would have been pointless, getting beaten by 150 every game doesn't help any of their domestic players and is borderline dangerous for the amateurs involved. Pathways to professional/semi-professional games from Greece are at this stage relatively non-existent, this is made more difficult by the strict visa requirements for lower-league English competitions, France elite competitions are probably the best hope at this stage by acting as a satellite league for European developing nations (as we've seen already). RL has been legal in Greece for less than 18 months at this point, to be fielding a 1/3 domestic squad at the WC 6 months post-legalisation means you cannot consider them as a heritage nation, when Wales as you say has 115 years of RL but is only 50% more domestic at the top level. Scotland and Ireland certainly are well behind Wales in terms of true domestic products, Samoa too. Tonga is a different story, they have stronger utilisation of heritage players but they also have genuine domestic products - if you put a 100% domestic Wales v Tonga I would imagine Tonga probably comes out on top now that the Crusaders crop has phased out of the professional game. After Rhys Williams leaves Salford Wales no longer have a domestic product in either SL or the NRL, whereas Tonga still have Eliesa Katoa, Konrad Hurrell and Viliami Vailea playing in the top tier with Taniela Otukolo who is turning out at cup level but has played NRL in the last 12 months. It would be of no benefit to Tonga RL for them to decrease their playing standard by shoehorning domestic players into the squad and killing their competitiveness, provided this England tour is a success they finally have the opportunity to develop consistent income streams for Tonga RL - this would not have occurred without the competitiveness afforded by their heritage players. As long as Tonga are consistently producing first-grade domestic talent through their junior pathways there is no problem with inflating their competitive ability through the use of heritage players - the same story applies for Wales, but they don't have the same strength of heritage commitment so are left with greater domestic representation organically.

Wales is one of the Nations you regularly refer to as non-heritage yet they had 10 domestic products in their WC squad last year, Greece had 8.

Absolute star of the future - born and raised in Samoa until he was 13 when he moved to Melbourne. Won't be leaving the Samoan team for a very long time.

This is the double-edged sword that Nations inherently take on by utilising heritage players - unless those players have actively made the decision between their heritage and nation of birth (Ie Jason Taumalolo, Brian To'o, Junior Paulo, etc.) you always risk them not being committed to the cause. While I'm sure he was extremely proud to represent Tonga, if he had the choice at the time it is likely he would never have become an established Tongan International.

Staggs is an Indigenous Australian who has lived his entire life in Australia, representing the Kangaroos is a pretty big deal. Staggs is of Tongan descent through his father, a man who he didn't even meet until he was 20 I believe.

A stronger Samoan side than this one couldn't get near the Kangaroos in the WC Final. QCB Stadium is rarely used for things other than RL being a regional stadium with no other major sporting teams playing out it, would've been a cost-based decision which reflects most of our recent International activity.

Having this game in Townsville is quite simply a terrible decision. We could still end up with 20k but anything less than sellout is poor considering the support Samoa received across Australia and the fact that the Kangaroos are playing. The 2017 WC demonstrated that Internationals in North Queensland are a terrible idea, that alone should have been enough to put a line through Townsville. Townsville also does not have a large Polynesian community and is isolated from the major Polynesian communities in QLD by well over 1000km. Solid Polynesian communities do exist in SE QLD, particularly places around Brisbane such as Logan and also the GC. But yes, Western Sydney would have the largest Polynesian community in Australia and Melbourne also has a strong Samoan community that is particularly intertwined with RL. Some interesting stats that I saw compiled elsewhere - The Kangaroos haven't played in Sydney since the 2017 WC against Lebanon, and have only played in Sydney 3 times since the 2008 WC (Lebanon, NZ and PNG), they have also played in London (4) and Leeds (4) more times than Sydney during that same 15 year period. The logical outcome is of course to play the game in an isolated city of 200k people with minimal Samoan population that has previously provided disastrous crowds for Internationals involving Samoa.

For 2024 AFAIK: Tiaki Chan (Wigan) Hugo Salabio (Huddersfield) Damel Diakhate (Hull) Justin Sangare (Leeds Mickael Goudemand (Leeds) Salabio and Romain Franco were with Wakefield this season, Franco has yet to be picked up while Salabio just signed a 3-year deal with Huddersfield. Technically they had Langi as a French International too. Fages heads back to Catalans next season. Championship final obviously threatens to change the field significantly if Toulouse win. Featherstone carried Gadwin Springer, Matthieu Cozza and Thomas Lacans at the top of the Championship as well.

I tend to think that Quota players tend to receive more points/votes by virtue of the fact that they are often accompanied by a requisite degree of media hype when compared to homegrown players. Not that those MOS winners weren't necessarily deserving but the Dream Team in particular I find often has a higher rate of Quota player representation than is often warranted. In any case nobody could allege that Barba or Hastings left the NRL due to their on-field performances, Croft and French were both victims of poor circumstances at their respective NRL clubs and will both have already fielded offers to return but have obviously preferred to remain in an environment that has better supported their careers.

I've seen the text of this article posted elsewhere, both are just responding to journalist questions and say they would be open to it at some stage in the future but are committed to Australia and NZ at this stage of their careers. Nelson had previously ruled out playing for Samoa entirely but states that he has changed his perspective following the passing of his father.

For anyone who wants to have a look at what's going on in the Netherlands, their website is probably one of the best in all of International RL and their socials are very well run too. Real credit to whoever is working behind the scenes in the administration.