m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league ... 1bs3b.html A PACIFIC ISLAND all-stars team including the likes of Benji Marshall, Jarryd Hayne, Michael Jennings and Manu Vatuvei is set to play England in Sydney or Auckland under a proposed new international schedule for next year. If true this would be massive news and just what international rugby league needs.

m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league ... 1bs3b.html A PACIFIC ISLAND all-stars team including the likes of Benji Marshall, Jarryd Hayne, Michael Jennings and Manu Vatuvei is set to play England in Sydney or Auckland under a proposed new international schedule for next year. If true this would be massive news and just what international rugby league needs.

Will the be dancing in the city about this news

I'm a great believer in a combined PI side, but it has to have PNG included as well.



There is a big enough Islander community in Sydney to get about 15k people along to games between any of the big three PI sides, and maybe 20k for a combined side if they embrace the concept.

If you get all the big names - Hayne, Civo, Tuquiri, Vatuvai, Uate, Marshall etc etc, the game could draw just as many fans of the game who just want to see a spectacular game.

I pity England though - they will probably win, but it would be brutal.

This is nonsense. A true Cobined PI side wold be interesting, ie one that has players who actually play for PNG, Tonga, Fiji, etc. But this isn't the case here. This team will be made up of NZ/AUS players with PI ancestry. It's a way for the ARL and NZRL to allow players to represent their heritage and still commit to those two countries. They're protecting their own empires, again.



This is the exact opposite to what we actually need.

And we come back to the fact that the RLIF need to grow a pair and sort out the international eligibility rules.

Agree with your post nadera.

I don't know about grow a set, I think they have the genitals of a woman.

Players play for money.

People seem to just ignore that.

This is a good first step in allowing high profile players to make serious money by playing as Pacific Islanders - and the day they can see a chance of making the same dollars from committing to Fiji as they can make from committing to Australia will be the day they start to do it.

If the RLIF insist that they all commit to one country when they are 16 - every one of them will suddenly find their inner Aussie and the PI countries will never be competitive.

This game won't fix the problem instantly, but it is the only practical attempt i've seen to make it possible for a guy to make money as a committed Pacific Islander.

All you dissing the concept are obviously happy with the status quo.

No, it completely defeats the object of international RL.

If the object of International RL is to have only 3 competitive sides forever, then it is an attempt to to defeat that.



If you want the next generation of Hayne's, Uate's, Civo's and Tuquiri's to aspire to play for Fiji, you need a way for them to make a few dollars as committed PI players.



The first team will not be all guys committed to the PI teams, but it is obvious where they are going with this - make the concept and the team popular, then change it to only guys who throw in with the PI countries.

If only the ARL operated in that way.

You're ignoring the fact that these players all play for Australia and New Zealand. Allowing them to turn out for PI is just a way of letting them represent their heritage while still playing for the big two.



It does nothing for the game in the Pacific!

Players have free will and legal rights.

You can hate it all you like, but they will always, always go for the big money - and there is no legal method of forcing them to go for less money by telling them they can't represent any nation they qualify for, and anyone who can get an Australian passport is an Australian if that is what they choose.



If we make it impossible to make money by committing to a PI country, no one in their right mind will commit.



It isn't perfect. It isn't a simple measure that will solve the problems of the world at the stroke of a pen. It's a step in the right direction to make it worthwhile to represent a PI country.



You can spend the next 50 years talking about how beautiful it will be in Utopia, or you can take measures that will actually start us heading in the right direction, even if it isn't your beautiful Utopian solution that will make everyone happy instantly.