Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)

[StandOffHalf]

Daniel Saifiti wants to have a full pre-season.

Newcastle Knights prop Daniel Saifiti reveals plan to skip Rugby League World Cup in England | Newcastle Herald | Newcastle, NSW

[Scubby]

5 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Daniel Saifiti wants to have a full pre-season.

Newcastle Knights prop Daniel Saifiti reveals plan to skip Rugby League World Cup in England | Newcastle Herald | Newcastle, NSW

He wants to skip everything lately. He has also mostly skipped tackling and running hard recently.

[burnleywelsh]

Radley throwing his hat into the ring…..

https://www.nrl.com/

[ghost crayfish]

4 hours ago, burnleywelsh said:

Radley throwing his hat into the ring…..

https://www.nrl.com/

This is great for England. He's a fantastic player. If he was a Queenslander he'd have played 10 origins by now and be the first-choice 13 for Australia, easily. He definitely has origin and test football ahead of him here, so choosing England is a big statement.

Put him in the mix with Bateman, Whitehead and others, and the England side will have some real steel in this world cup. Given his ability to play dummy half, I think there's definitely room for both him and Knowles in the 17, so Wane would be mad not to pick him.

[Sports Prophet]

10 hours ago, ghost crayfish said:

This is great for England. He's a fantastic player. If he was a Queenslander he'd have played 10 origins by now and be the first-choice 13 for Australia, easily. He definitely has origin and test football ahead of him here, so choosing England is a big statement.

Put him in the mix with Bateman, Whitehead and others, and the England side will have some real steel in this world cup. Given his ability to play dummy half, I think there's definitely room for both him and Knowles in the 17, so Wane would be mad not to pick him.

He won’t have any Origin football ahead of him if he plays for England.

[ghost crayfish]

8 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

He won’t have any Origin football ahead of him if he plays for England.

yes, that's my point. that's why choosing england is a big statement ie. he's not chris heighington. 

[Wascally_Wabbit]

On 13/07/2022 at 19:11, Scubby said:

Meninga insists no one is to blame for Australia not playing for 3 years. The Wallabies have probably racked up 20 tests during that period. They are both representing Australia right?

the wallabies play a minor sport struggling for money & hearts, they made their choice based on the future of rugby in Australia 

[Abicus]

Heaps of player news over weekend, sadly most due to injury:

Josh Papalii in the Canberra Times has told Mal he is leaning towards playing for Samoa over Australia. Says they can be the next Tonga

Then two players out of the World Cup, a blow for Tonga:

Stili Tupouniu (Tonga - ACL, season)

Ryan Papenhuyzen (Australia - Kneecap, season)

 

[Wascally_Wabbit]

19 hours ago, ghost crayfish said:

This is great for England. He's a fantastic player. If he was a Queenslander he'd have played 10 origins by now and be the first-choice 13 for Australia, easily. He definitely has origin and test football ahead of him here, so choosing England is a big statement.

Put him in the mix with Bateman, Whitehead and others, and the England side will have some real steel in this world cup. Given his ability to play dummy half, I think there's definitely room for both him and Knowles in the 17, so Wane would be mad not to pick him.

first choice 13, easily? Murray, Yeo, finnucane & Carrigan might have something to say about that, even Tino

he'd be a chance to fit in somewhere, perhaps off the bench, but he does a lot of stupid things & has been in & out  lately 

 

[UTK]

8 minutes ago, Abicus said:

Heaps of player news over weekend, sadly most due to injury:

Josh Papalii in the Canberra Times has told Mal he is leaning towards playing for Samoa over Australia. Says they can be the next Tonga

Then two players out of the World Cup, a blow for Tonga:

Stili Tupouniu (Tonga - ACL, season)

Ryan Papenhuyzen (Australia - Kneecap, season)

 

Suggestions Josh Schuster will also pull out of the World Cup to focus on shifting to the halves next season, unfortunate because he's a versatile and talented player but has only been playing off the bench primarily this season anyway.

Leilua, Su'a and Nanai (If not selected for Australia) all provide top quality options on the edge so depth is still there at this point in time.

[Jim from Oz]

"Suggestions Josh Schuster will also pull out of the World Cup to focus on shifting to the halves next season"

What an odd reason to pull out … this is a World Cup FFS !

If I was a top RL player, a bullock team couldn't keep me away from playing in a RLWC !

Don't they realise that opportunities like this are incredibly rare?

[Young Blood]

To be fair Josh Schuster ha been dealing with multiple injuries this year and has not been abe to play 5 games togehter all year, I know the World Cup is important but his main duty is his NRL club which pays him hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[Young Blood]

Just curious where are the Tongan, Samoan, NZ, Fijian, Lebanese, Greek and Italian communities in England surely they should of played games in those areas to increase ticket sales. 

[UTK]

1 hour ago, Jim from Oz said:

"Suggestions Josh Schuster will also pull out of the World Cup to focus on shifting to the halves next season"

What an odd reason to pull out … this is a World Cup FFS !

If I was a top RL player, a bullock team couldn't keep me away from playing in a RLWC !

Don't they realise that opportunities like this are incredibly rare?

Indeed, it is no doubt a reflection of the lack of prestige we afford the international game.

In saying that, when Origin was on at the end of 2020 we did see a large increase in players ruling themselves out of the series so the commitment to the club is also a genuine factor for some players - particularly ones that aren't so established in their careers or have just started earning big money.

As a Knights fan I'm extremely disappointed to see Daniel Saifiti rule himself out for Fiji/Australia even though he has been injured for extended periods of time. Hopefully his brother Jacob doesn't follow that route but given Jacob actually did get injured last WC and spent an extended time on the sidelines as a result I wouldn't be surprised if he does.

[Wascally_Wabbit]

1 hour ago, Jim from Oz said:

"Suggestions Josh Schuster will also pull out of the World Cup to focus on shifting to the halves next season"

What an odd reason to pull out … this is a World Cup FFS !

If I was a top RL player, a bullock team couldn't keep me away from playing in a RLWC !

Don't they realise that opportunities like this are incredibly rare?

it’s only a World Cup, not like it’s origin & the cricket season will have started 

[Wascally_Wabbit]

1 hour ago, Young Blood said:

Just curious where are the Tongan, Samoan, NZ, Fijian, Lebanese, Greek and Italian communities in England surely they should of played games in those areas to increase ticket sales. 

They don’t really exist, none of those communities are that big 

[UTK]

Tom Trbojevic is looking to be fit in time for week 2/3 of the NRL finals and has made it clear that he wants to play for Australia in the WC if he is selected.

Not that we needed anymore talent in the Kangaroos side but that would be a massive inclusion. 

1. Tedesco
2. Addo-Carr
3. Mitchell
4. Trbojevic
5. Holmes

Would be some backline if he does get fit in time.

 

[welshmagpie]

On 18/07/2022 at 03:34, Young Blood said:

Just curious where are the Tongan, Samoan, NZ, Fijian, Lebanese, Greek and Italian communities in England surely they should of played games in those areas to increase ticket sales. 

As mentioned none that large. There’s a fair Italian congregation around Manchester. Plenty of Greeks in London along with Kiwis.

Rochdale for Fijians, albeit small but proud history. 
 

Historically, there’s been a collective Greek community around Sunderland but again it’s not huge. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by welshmagpie

[Eddie]

On 18/07/2022 at 04:49, Wascally_Wabbit said:

They don’t really exist, none of those communities are that big 

There are loads of people of Italian and Greek origin in the UK. Agree that the others aren’t that big though. 

[The Rocket]

Definitely seeing the World Cup getting a lot more mentions lately. Good to see the eligibility question being seen as a point of interest rather than being viewed negatively.

Rugby League World Cup 2022: Which nations are NRL players representing? (msn.com)

 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

There's a pretty big podcast in Aus called Bloke in a Bar - they discussed Radley specifically this week and international/Origin eligibility in general. They seem to think there's news coming that Origin and International eligibility will be completely separated after the WC, not least of all because of the sheer number of pacific island heritage origin players expected to put their hands up to play for those nations. Arguably the most notable being the Panthers trio of Luai, Crichton and To'o. They're held up as doing great things for western Sydney and are hugely proud of the area they're from, but equally all are expected to say they want to play for Samoa this WC. I've not heard a strong enough argument yet as to why this shouldn't be allowed to happen. The only rule i'd ask to be put in place is that there's no international switching anymore, regardless of 'tiers'. 

[RP London]

2 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

There's a pretty big podcast in Aus called Bloke in a Bar - they discussed Radley specifically this week and international/Origin eligibility in general. They seem to think there's news coming that Origin and International eligibility will be completely separated after the WC, not least of all because of the sheer number of pacific island heritage origin players expected to put their hands up to play for those nations. Arguably the most notable being the Panthers trio of Luai, Crichton and To'o. They're held up as doing great things for western Sydney and are hugely proud of the area they're from, but equally all are expected to say they want to play for Samoa this WC. I've not heard a strong enough argument yet as to why this shouldn't be allowed to happen. The only rule i'd ask to be put in place is that there's no international switching anymore, regardless of 'tiers'. 

absolutely.. get rid of switching.. pin your colours to the mast and go from there.. eligibility is fine, its inline with citizenship rules for the most part, but the switching, i think, is where the "comedy value" of international allegiance comes in.

[Man of Kent]

1 hour ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

There's a pretty big podcast in Aus called Bloke in a Bar - they discussed Radley specifically this week and international/Origin eligibility in general. They seem to think there's news coming that Origin and International eligibility will be completely separated after the WC, not least of all because of the sheer number of pacific island heritage origin players expected to put their hands up to play for those nations. Arguably the most notable being the Panthers trio of Luai, Crichton and To'o. They're held up as doing great things for western Sydney and are hugely proud of the area they're from, but equally all are expected to say they want to play for Samoa this WC. I've not heard a strong enough argument yet as to why this shouldn't be allowed to happen. The only rule i'd ask to be put in place is that there's no international switching anymore, regardless of 'tiers'. 

I've got no issue with someone playing for Queensland and Samoa. One is a state, the other a nation.

What I don't like is 'New Zealand and Tonga international'. That's what cheapens it, in my view.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Man of Kent

[Scubby]

6 minutes ago, RP London said:

absolutely.. get rid of switching.. pin your colours to the mast and go from there.. eligibility is fine, its inline with citizenship rules for the most part, but the switching, i think, is where the "comedy value" of international allegiance comes in.

The only reason people are switching is because they are scared of not being selected to play Origin if they pledge their allegiance to a country other than Australia. Jerome Luai is as passionate a Samoan player as there is but has felt he had to keep his mouth shut during Origin to get selected. Same with Api Koroisau and Fiji (16 tests). It is not switching it is just stupid.

The game has a bigger opportunity with 5/6 hugely competitive nations than forcing the Origin/Australian line by stealth.

[RP London]

4 minutes ago, Scubby said:

The only reason people are switching is because they are scared of not being selected to play Origin if they pledge their allegiance to a country other than Australia. Jerome Luai is as passionate a Samoan player as there is but has felt he had to keep his mouth shut during Origin to get selected. Same with Api Koroisau and Fiji (16 tests). It is not switching it is just stupid.

The game has a bigger opportunity with 5/6 hugely competitive nations than forcing the Origin/Australian line by stealth.

But we get it here too its not just origin.. Morgan Knowles, Joe Philbin etc I know the argument is that it can help smaller nations but I don't buy it.. if they start to play better they move on to the bigger nation because they want to play against the bigger nations.. and that is the bit that could/should be fixed. Get the calendar sorted, make it so that you can lift a country rather than just yourself. The southern hemisphere is origin, the northern hemisphere is the calendar, Tonga come good so they get games v New Zealand, a strong samoa may have the same effect.. but if Ireland or Wales go well what happens? They need to build on it as a group even if it is a one off generation, the way to guarantee it is a one off is to not try, and we're only talking one or two games of internationals we're not talking a super league team in Dublin.