I'm not saying we should stop.it happening, just that we keep it in perspective, maybe an ' Italy ' Aussie RL team should visit Italy pre WC pushing the sport ( and of course the IRLF anonunce a multi million pound investement in Europe ) supported by ALL the sports governing bodies

The after match interviews should be a laugh, our man of the match for italy Craig gower (followed my a thick Aussie accent).

Bound to give our game world wide instant credibility

Would you prefer them to select a bunch of home grown players and be beaten by 100 points? Many of those players including Minichiello paid their own way to Italy to take part in the WC qualifiers last year and ensure a spot for their side. In typical RL style you are just talking and moaning for the sake of it.

Apologies for the page still being constructed, but been building up which players are available for each country: www.internationalrugbyleague.net/teamdata.htm Also due to the immense amount of research that's gone into this we might have missed quite a lot, so any feedback or anything to add please don't hesitate in letting me know.

Apologies for the page still being constructed, but been building up which players are available for each country: www.internationalrugbyleague.net/teamdata.htm Also due to the immense amount of research that's gone into this we might have missed quite a lot, so any feedback or anything to add please don't hesitate in letting me know.

Good to hear, hopefully they will get things sorted, as I said perspective is what is needed in relation to this subject , having ' heritage ' players is fine as long as it helps development

I'm not talking poop sir, as I say the homecoming of the Italian (and 10 aussies) rl squad back to Rome will see the streets full of 100,000 people singing Italia Italia Italia Italia

What are you trying to achieve with posts like this? Nobody is claiming the sport is massive in Italy, it has only been there for a few years.

The Italian RU team have easily 50% of their team not native Italians but they are not being pillioried. The England Cricket team is South Africa A but hey that's okay.

The Irish and Scottish teams are likely to be mainly non native born also.

The hope is that these teams including the Italians will have several teams on their roster from the domestic league and that a good performance from the national team will spur more development in the respective countries.

At this point, these national organisations do exist. They have a right to enter the World cup and they played qualifying games to get there. It works at this time to have them represented by the non native born players. Competitive games are so much better than blowouts. Check out the names listed on the Italian roster, most are clearly of Italian pedigree. In future the native born component should increase as the sport grows in the respective countries.

The match I'm most excited for is Tonga v Italy at The Shay. Getting to that one.

Typical RL fans fashion.

We're talking about another potentially competitive international team, yet all some people prefer to do is talk down the game. Why do people want their Len sport to fail so much by holding it to a standard that only football can achieve?

Read my last post on this thread

These lads deserve nothing but praise. They are coming over and playing for free, which compared to the Kangaroos who are expected to get $20,000AUS a test is pretty impressive. They will be a welcome addition to the competition.

It's great to have som many competitive teams.

The RLWC is actually looking like every game is sellable, in 2000 no one would even dream of bothering with a game like Scotland v Italy, but now all of the games look good.

A competitive international game is what we all want, getting players like Minichello, Hayne etc to play for the minnows is a great start, now we have to find a way of making them commit to them so they can build and improve.

If this happens we might actually get somewhere, on a personal note I would love Samoa to meet Tonga in the WC. I think it would be epic.

Comments like these are incredibly tiresome. Predictable, dull witted and tiresome.

Typical VT user

We are talking about 10 Aussies putting a blue shirt on and calling themselves a country they have probably never been to and people start creaming themselves as if the sport has achieved something. I bet in the next ten posts some idiot suggests replacing Salford with Milan such are the dribbling retards that use this forum.

It's funny that you feel the need to try and defend the idiots who make comments like the ones in that post.

There are a select few who would do this definitely. They are trolls, long term trolls.

Unfortunately, very few are actually interested in having a mature debate on the matter.

Rugby League is in a difficult position when it comes to the international game. If we're calling a spade a spade, this Italian team is just an honest attempt to get the game going there. They're not italian. They wont be greeted as megastars in Milan. And if the position of rugby league was better we would not need a team consisting almost solely of Australians representing Italy.

But unfortunately the game can be best called developing in the majority of international areas and we have to resort to this. Baby steps as they say. Not a triumph, but the best solution to a catch 22.

A bit like our recent Autumn internationals. The international game is not strong enough to put out a world cup of the quality of some sports, but we can't afford to just give up on the international game just because it's comparitively weak. Let's make the best of what we've got.

Completely useless, irrelevant comment made by a buffoon easily disregarded.

But England, who have been a power since the dawn of the game can play Rangi Chase, Reid, Widdop and the Aussie forward who was so good I forgot his name, and that's alright. Plus, back in the day before they adopted the GB moniker they usually had half a dozen Welshmen playing for England.

And if you think Henry Paul and Hape were genuine English in the other code and I forgot Vainikolo, well wow.

Give these Italians a break? If they are still 90% Australian by the next but one World Cup then you might have a point.

I'm not sure how you can put Reed and Widdop in the same category as the likes of Chase and Minichiello although the wider point stands.

Although people do have a point about Chase, it's certainly a grey area for us.

Agree with Mr Dalton, we need to step back and take a look at the bigger picture.

The 'big 3' selecting players from minor nations is counter-productive for the game, for the game to develop internationally if a player is available for Australia as well as Fiji or Lebanon, they should be encouraged to play for the minor nations, bridging the gap and giving the minor nation a player in SL or the NRL to idolise. This will develop the game at grass roots level a hell of a lot quicker.

The big 3 would still be the big 3 without Hayne, Mason, McIlorum, Brough, Harrison, Civonaceva etc but the gap would be smaller, and the minor nations not only have stars but hope aswell.

That Italian team will be VERY competative.....they could well make the QF's, where they would meet the Kiwis..... then in a one off game, anything can happen, they could then meet England for the right to play Australia.....the RLWC Final could be 'stralia v 'straLia B



You can't blame the Italians BTW.....there are only 2 professional leagues and about 750 full time professional players on the planet, so if they can track down 20 or more of these players with Italian heritage, good on them I say.....

Good point made earlier BTW......teams like this Italian lot and Fiji with Hayne and maybe Uate will boost interest and gates......

Oh dear

, a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach reading that