Pick NZ'ers for the Australian team! lol wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8451741 with aFijian and a Kiwi in the team maybe it is time to change their name to Australasia?

Pick NZ'ers for the Australian team! lol wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8451741 with aFijian and a Kiwi in the team maybe it is time to change their name to Australasia?

But for suspension they'd have had a Tongan in there too. Having said that "England" can't talk. Maybe we should change our name to the Commonwealth X111

Maybe it is time to drop the notion of nations and let sides pick whoever they like?

The lad has been living in Australia since he was 13 and obviously feels closer to the green and gold to the black and white. It doesn't sit right but they haven't actually broken any rules, and that's the real problem.

Not necessarily:

Thankfully it seems like Tamou is the only young NZ player that Australia were successfully able to poach using Origin - the others that were targeted like Taumalolo, Kasiano and Papalii have apparently all committed to NZ. I'm sure Tamou will feel absolutely stupid on Friday when he's watching his countrymen perform the Haka against him.

he'll feel better if he gets the $40k cheque for playing for NSW!

This is yet another Origin-led effort to turn a young player to Australia. Why the heck he couldn't play for NSW and NZ I have no idea. The purity of Origin is and always has been a sham. Using it to force a young guy to choose Australia - and therefore reduce NZ's talent pool - is ridiculous.

New Zealand have poached more players than anybody, yet everyone seems to accept that. They have 5 players in their squad go we're born in aus, one who qualified cause he played for the warriors for 3 years after playing for qld, one go switched to Samoa last year and has Samoan parents, one whose mother is indigenous Australian! Nobody seems to bag the kiwis!

Oh you mean tony Williams, who was born in Sydney and only played for tonga in the world cup, a couple of weeks after playing for the junior kangaroos against tonga, knowing he could change allegiances when he was good enough to play for his country?

True but NZ don't have anywhere near the number of players to choose from as Australia. Something like 80% of players in the NRL are Australian. NZ needs to boost its ranks occasionally, Aus doesn't. This decision is all about NSWRL and SOO, sadly NZ are the team that lose out to benefit NSW. Shame that state is seen as a bigger thing than country in Australian RL.

I don't think anyone would mind if Tamou had just decided he wanted to play for Australia ahead of NZ, it's more the fact that he would clearly prefer to play for NZ but has been coerced by the money on offer from playing SOO.

That is the issue - not whether he picked NZ/Australia (he is perfectly entitled to do so), but the fact that Origin is yet again allowed to impact internationals. He has clearly made this decision because he's been offered the carrot of an Origin jersey.

will the game next week be on tv over here in england www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 26x42.html

will the game next week be on tv over here in england www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 26x42.html