BONUS: Doing the international hokey pokey one more time

Is Newcastle in Samoa?

The Australian Kangaroos were rocked internally by a selection BOMBSHELL this week as Broncos and New South Wales superstar prop Payne Haas let slip that he was considering representing Samoa (through his mother’s heritage) in this year’s end of season Pacific Championships, rather than go on tour with the Kangaroos to England should he be selected.¹

Maybe it’s because I’ve spent less time on social media recently outside of defending the Detroit Pistons from the NBA’s draconian rules about “fighting”, but I haven’t seen a lot of the worst-person-you-know kind of takesmanship about Haas potentially abandoning the green and gold. That’s not to say it doesn’t exist, because I’m almost positive it does, but maybe it’s been buried under all the Ghibli nonsense and porn bots.

Anyway, when this news filtered through my mind was immediately cast back to when Brian To’o announced ahead of the 2021 World Cup that he was choosing to represent Samoa, the country of his parents’ heritage, ahead of Australia. To’o’s decision actually came as somewhat of a shock at the time because all the reporting up until that point had indicated To’o’s parents were keen on their son representing the Kangaroos if given the chance because of the opportunities Australia had provided their family.

I actually wrote a longer piece on this very topic over on the parent site at the time, so feel free to click away and check it out here, a lot of what I’m about to cover is basically an updated rehash of those original points.

Administratively, rugby league does very little right. The player transfer system is a bureaucratic mess and the conflict of interests in the media are rife. Why is Gus allowed to run a club and have a podcast talking about all the other clubs, for instance?

But the current tiered setup around international footy is a rare win for the sport given the unique opportunities it presents for players to represent their heritage and cultures seamlessly.

If you’ve been reading my work for a while now or just know me and my general stances, you’d be aware of my thoughts around the argument for making Samoa and Tonga Tier 1 nations (staunchly against). A Tier 1 nation isn’t about talent pools, but about infrastructure and administration in the game at the local level. If you can make a compelling argument to convince me that Samoa or Tonga have enough foundational resources to run a competition to a professional standard, I’d be more than happy to hear it.

Subjectively though, the current setup is just a cool wrinkle and a unique opportunity literally no other sport provides. For what it’s worth, I am somewhat against Origin being opened up to players from England/New Zealand, I do think it has to still mean something, and I’d rather it not devolve into a glorified All-Stars game. You know what’s at stake when you choose to represent England or New Zealand. Victor Radley knew what he was turning his back on.

The difference though is that England and NZ have the capacity to be able to have exclusivity, something the Pacific Island nations don’t. While I don’t doubt there’d be players who would choose to stay with Samoa/Tonga and forego Origin, there’d also be a heap that choose the latter. Making Tonga and Samoa Tier 1 cannibalizes both pathways and helps no one long term.

Australia isn’t struggling to find enough players to fill a squad (although to be fair the forward stocks were grim last year with all the injuries and yet they still won).

I could go on about my opinions on the structure all day but to circle back to the reason I decided to write this bonus in the first place, the idea that Payne Haas choosing to play for Samoa is “un-Australian”, miss me with that shit.

People will point to State of Origin being a selection trial for the Kangaroos. While that may be true historically, it really hasn’t been the case for a number of years now. Lindsay Smith made his Kangaroos debut in the Pacific Championships Final last year, despite never playing a lick of representative football before that (Alex Johnston, Sione Mata’utia, Chris Lawrence etc), and there’s plenty of other examples of the Australian cart being put before the Origin horse.

City-Country was a selection trial for New South Wales Origin, and yet no one seems to care that that’s gone down the drainpipe (I care, bring it back, I miss my mustard and blue city boys).

The fact is the Australian Kangaroos play so infrequently now that the jersey has sadly lost its prestige. There are generations growing up now who see the national side play maybe 2-3 times a year at most. The simplest way to instill national pride in the jersey is representation and frequency.

Take Jarome Luai for instance.

Back in 2021 he burst onto the representative scene with a scintillating debut Origin series, in which NSW comprehensively won the first two games by a combined score of 76-6 (Game Three redacted from the records).

During that time, selection conversations were heating up for the World Cup at the end of the season (before it was eventually postponed by 12 months due to COVID-19). Luai, who at this point had already represented Samoa internationally, had re-affirmed his commitment to Toa Samoa.

“When it comes to international footy you should play for who you feel most drawn to. I was brought up in a Samoan church and household, and I feel close to my Samoan culture. I definitely think we have a lot of talent, and I want to do well for them.”

Jarome Luai, 2021

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga followed up with this stance when asked about the mix for Kangaroos five-eighth, and the difference between Luai’s case and that of Josh Papali’i, who at that point had also committed to Samoa for the World Cup.

“Josh is now 31 and he’s at the back end of his career, and he’s earned the respect and right to choose who he wants to play for,” Meninga told the Herald.

“But Jarome is at the start of his career and I’d like to think he will make himself available for Australia.

“I’ve made it known in the past if a player can play Origin, they should then make themselves available for Australia.

“I’m keen to speak with Jarome and let him know what my feelings and thoughts are about the international game. I’m also keen to hear his thoughts and reasons for wanting to play for Samoa. I can tell you he’s absolutely in the mix for Australia.”

Mal Meninga, 2021

I can respect that Meninga is doing his job as the Australian coach, and that is to ensure he has the largest possible talent pool to pick from.

But this quote annoyed me at the time and it got pushed back into the front of my mind with the Payne Haas news this week.

Jarome Luai, as he points out himself, was raised by Samoans, in a Samoan household, attending Samoan church. He feels Samoan.

He was also raised in Mt Druitt in Sydney’s west. He feels like a New South Welshman.

The great thing about the system is players like Luai, To’o, Haas, and Papali’i can represent their local communities and their cultures.

The fact that it was framed as though because Luai was young that he owed it to Australia to give himself to the Kangaroos while Papali’i had earned the right to pick and choose, is complete nonsense.

It is that sort of entitled commentary that drives people off the Kangaroos to an extent. Now, Mal is a god among footy circles, and he has no trouble convincing people to follow him (local politics aside), and I know he didn’t mean anything untoward with these comments, but there’s an easy leap to make.

If you were someone like Luai back in 2021, would you rather tour with the Kangaroos as the 5-6th choice half (remember Nathan Cleary, Ben Hunt, Cameron Munster and Daly Cherry-Evans all ended up in the Kangaroos squad, along with chief water boy Matt Burton), maybe play a random pool game and beat up some minnow (Scotland) and collect a winners medal despite riding the pine, or would you rather tour with a team representing a vibrant culture where you’re guaranteed big minutes and where you’d be treated like a deity.

Tough call.

It’s often said that that Samoan run in the 2021 World Cup served as a catalyst for those looking from the outside in wanting to represent the side in the future.

Guys like Murray Taulagi and Jeremiah Nanai, who were in the Kangaroos squad that tournament, have already swapped over, while now there’s rumours of Payne Haas and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui following suit (Haas was injured and didn’t feature in the World Cup).

And for what it’s worth, it can go the other way too. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow played for Samoa at the World Cup that year (injuring himself in the first game blowout against England) and has since represented the Kangaroos.

Rugby league does so few things right. Let’s not over-litigate players’ cultures.

1. He would be selected