International squads

[NRLandSL]

47 minutes ago, UTK said:

Tonga A Squad to take on NZ A

Surely they can call up some domestic players for the A squad. Poor from the Tongan selectors.

[UTK]

7 minutes ago, Mojo said:

Potential Toa Samoa A team

1 Joash Papali'i

2 David Nofoaluma

3 Marion Seve

4 Enari Tuala

5 Alofiana Khan-Pareira

6 Josh Schuster

7 Ronald Volkman

8 Oregon Kaufusi

9 Blaize Talagi

10 Pasami Saulo

11 Shaun Blore

12 Kelma Tuilagi

13 Oregon Kaufusi

Oregon Kaufusi is in for a big game.

Do you happen to know why Volkman wasn't part of the top squad? Has to be injured or made himself unavailable because you'd think he'd walk into the first-choice lineup that has been picked.

[NRLandSL]

8 minutes ago, Mojo said:

Potential Toa Samoa A team

1 Joash Papali'i

2 David Nofoaluma

3 Marion Seve

4 Enari Tuala

5 Alofiana Khan-Pareira

6 Josh Schuster

7 Ronald Volkman

8 Oregon Kaufusi

9 Blaize Talagi

10 Pasami Saulo

11 Shaun Blore

12 Kelma Tuilagi

13 Oregon Kaufusi

Khan-Pereira just played for Aussie PM XIII

[Damien]

Temple-Olympia Koloamatangi-Kalepo has to be one of the great names of Rugby League.

[Mojo]

36 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

Khan-Pereira just played for Aussie PM XIII

So did Murray Taulagi

[StandOffHalf]

1 hour ago, Sports Prophet said:

I expect the pay day has increased as this is an NRL organised event, bound by the profit sharing agreement.

Aha, of course. That hadn't occurred to me.

[StandOffHalf]

I'd have strongly considered Finefeuiaki for the Tongan tour to England. He's exactly the strong-running, hard-to-handle freak of nature that I think the Tongans are going to need to physically get over the top of a quick, talented English team. Imagine him coming off the bench against tiring edges. Still, I hope he has a stormer for the 'A' side and shows what a weapon he is.

Gotta wonder why Volkman isn't in the main Samoa squad. He would have been a real addition to their spine.

Edited October 6, 2023 by StandOffHalf

[StandOffHalf]

The Fiji team looks fairly weak, when you get beyond the backs and the two starting props. Not a lot of interchange depth.

I suppose you can see the positive of some new faces getting a chance and seeing how they go in the international arena.

Edited October 6, 2023 by StandOffHalf

[Dunbar]

5 hours ago, Big Picture said:

This part is dead wrong.  As I've explained several times now, most of the team sports which have Internationals base eligibility on citizenship.  And they don't allow any nation switching, ever.

So I am 'dead wrong' saying we have more flexibility than other sports in players switching nations because other nations don't allow players to switch nations.

Great, thanks for that.

[NRLandSL]

45 minutes ago, Mojo said:

So did Murray Taulagi

Didn’t even clock that, how’s that allowed. IRL just doesn’t care at this point. The blokes playing for 2 different national teams in the space of a few weeks

[Damien]

5 hours ago, Big Picture said:

This part is dead wrong.  As I've explained several times now, most of the team sports which have Internationals base eligibility on citizenship.  And they don't allow any nation switching, ever.

And it's been repeated to you many times why you are wrong and why almost everyone on this forum would consider RLs eligibility rules broadly in line with other sports that they are familiar with. People already acknowledge how RLs switching laws are different, that's not new.

[NRLandSL]

11 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

The Fiji team looks fairly weak, when you get beyond the backs and the two starting props. Not a lot of interchange depth.

I suppose you can see the positive of some new faces getting a chance and seeing how they go in the international arena.

They’ve not selected the regular heritage players it seems. but they’ve chosen a heap of domestic Fijian players from the sikitails. Really good stuff from Fiji actually hopefully some other nations will start following in there footsteps.

[Abicus]

1 hour ago, NRLandSL said:

Surely they can call up some domestic players for the A squad. Poor from the Tongan selectors.

It literally does not matter in the slightest. 

[Damien]

9 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

They’ve not selected the regular heritage players it seems. but they’ve chosen a heap of domestic Fijian players from the sikitails. Really good stuff from Fiji actually hopefully some other nations will start following in there footsteps.

Out of necessity, not choice.

[Big Picture]

22 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

So I am 'dead wrong' saying we have more flexibility than other sports in players switching nations because other nations don't allow players to switch nations.

Great, thanks for that.

You know quite well that I was answering your false claim that pretty much all sports have the same eligibility criteria. 

[NRLandSL]

8 minutes ago, Abicus said:

It literally does not matter in the slightest. 

Growing rugby league domestically in a new country “does not matter in the slightest”. Do you not want the game to grow, cause I sure do and most people on this forum do. Choosing a team full of heritage players does very little to grow the game in a country, especially when this game will not be widely broadcasted/watched as it is not the National team.

[StandOffHalf]

13 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

They’ve not selected the regular heritage players it seems. but they’ve chosen a heap of domestic Fijian players from the sikitails. Really good stuff from Fiji actually hopefully some other nations will start following in there footsteps.

Injuries and then some. There is the positive of seeing those players get a go, so I am looking forward to seeing the Fijian team.

[NRLandSL]

6 minutes ago, Damien said:

Out of necessity, not choice.

What makes you say that? I’m sure there was a few injuries but in the past Fiji would select a lot more heritage players. but now they have selected a heap of young domestic boys which is really cool to see. Tonga and Samoa should follow in there footsteps 

Edited October 6, 2023 by NRLandSL

[Damien]

1 minute ago, NRLandSL said:

Choosing a team full of heritage players does very little to grow the game in a country, especially when this game will not be widely broadcasted/watched as it is not the National team.

Apart from in the likes of Tonga, Fiji and Samoa.

[StandOffHalf]

1 minute ago, NRLandSL said:

Growing rugby league domestically in a new country “does not matter in the slightest”. Do you not want the game to grow, cause I sure do and most people on this forum do. Choosing a team full of heritage players does very little to grow the game in a country, especially when this game will not be widely broadcasted/watched as it is not the National team.

I agree to an extent. If there are domestic players who could be up to snuff (or the potential), an 'A' game is the place they should be.

[NRLandSL]

1 minute ago, Damien said:

Apart from in the likes of Tonga, Fiji and Samoa.

This is referring to the Tonga “A” side. This game will likely not be watched by many and has very little at stake, so it’s the perfect opportunity to help grow the domestic game which is the future of the Tongan game.

[UTK]

37 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

I'd have strongly considered Finefeuiaki for the Tongan tour to England. He's exactly the strong-running, hard-to-handle freak of nature that I think the Tongans are going to need to physically get over the top of a quick, talented English team. Imagine him coming off the bench against tiring edges. Still, I hope he has a stormer for the 'A' side and shows what a weapon he is.

Gotta wonder why Volkman isn't in the main Samoa squad. He would have been a real addition to their spine.

Finefeuiaki looks like he could very much be a player for the future based on his limited NRL appearances but the Tonga backrow depth chart is probably the strongest in the world. 

David Fifita, Haumole Olakau'atu, Keaon Koloamatangi, Tyson Frizell, Felise Kaufusi, Sitili Tupouniua, Eliesa Katoa, Siua Wong. 

Genuine superstars of that position all round, most wouldn't look out of place at all in AUS/NZ/ENG teams.

[Dunbar]

18 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

You know quite well that I was answering your false claim that pretty much all sports have the same eligibility criteria. 

And this part.

"And they don't allow any nation switching, ever."

[StandOffHalf]

7 minutes ago, UTK said:

Finefeuiaki looks like he could very much be a player for the future based on his limited NRL appearances but the Tonga backrow depth chart is probably the strongest in the world. 

David Fifita, Haumole Olakau'atu, Keaon Koloamatangi, Tyson Frizell, Felise Kaufusi, Sitili Tupouniua, Eliesa Katoa, Siua Wong. 

Genuine superstars of that position all round, most wouldn't look out of place at all in AUS/NZ/ENG teams.

All good players, although I'm not sure I'd call all of them superstars.

Finefeuiaki is going to be something special, I think.

Edited October 6, 2023 by StandOffHalf

[NRLandSL]

13 minutes ago, UTK said:

Finefeuiaki looks like he could very much be a player for the future based on his limited NRL appearances but the Tonga backrow depth chart is probably the strongest in the world. 

David Fifita, Haumole Olakau'atu, Keaon Koloamatangi, Tyson Frizell, Felise Kaufusi, Sitili Tupouniua, Eliesa Katoa, Siua Wong. 

Genuine superstars of that position all round, most wouldn't look out of place at all in AUS/NZ/ENG teams.

Not sure how many of them will stay playing for Tonga though. Frizell and Kaufusi Would Play for australia if they were selected, not sure about David Fifita but might be the same for him. Also Tupouniua Definitely could switch  to New Zealand especially if misses out on Tonga selection and Siua Wong has spoken about Playing for all 4 Nations he is elgible for in his career. He has already Played for Fiji and now he wants to be play for Tonga than the Kiwis and most likely Samoa. Wongs Ambitions speak for the state of IRL eligibility laws. he’s gonna have played for 4 nations be the times he’s 22.

Edited October 6, 2023 by NRLandSL