{"id":49027,"date":"2025-08-06T23:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/49027\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T23:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T23:48:11","slug":"international-switch-looms-for-haas-tino-and-hammer-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/49027\/","title":{"rendered":"International switch looms for Haas, Tino, and Hammer – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just two weeks into his Australian Kangaroos coaching tenure, Kevin Walters<\/a> has already been faced with the mammoth challenge of retaining three of his biggest stars.<\/p>\n

With Samoa<\/a> reportedly close to snatching Tino Fa’asuamaleaui<\/a>, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow<\/a>, and Payne Hass from the Kangaroos, Walters may be without the trio of stars ahead of this year’s Ashes series.<\/p>\n

Speaking with The Daily Telegraph, Walters revealed his plans for the trio.<\/p>\n

“I have already had some conversations and picked up the phone,” Walters revealed. “There will be some meetings in the next few weeks with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2024SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – NOVEMBER 10: Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow<\/a> of Australia<\/a> runs the ball during the 2024 Pacific Championships<\/a> Pacific Cup Men’s Final match Australia<\/a> Kangaroos and Tonga<\/a> XIII at CommBank Stadium on November 10, 2024 in Sydney, Australia<\/a>. (Photo by Matt King<\/a>\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

He admitted that his goal is not to force anyone to don the Australian logo, but instead to get a better understanding as to why they may choose to defect.<\/p>\n

“I won’t be trying to convince them to play for the Kangaroos, I will sit down with those guys and outline my plan for the Kangaroos and where we are going to take the jersey,\u201d Walters discussed.<\/p>\n

“I will get an understanding of their feelings towards (defecting) and how they feel about playing for the Kangaroos, and if they want to keep playing for our jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incoming Australia<\/a> coach showed his tremendous passion for the jersey, revealing he only wants stars who are willing to \u201cdie for our country\u201d.<\/p>\n

“I will get the vibe from them if they want to pull on the jersey, they either want to play and be part of the squad, or they don’t\u201d, Walters declared.<\/p>\n

“It’s not a right or wrong decision, but we want 22 guys who want to wear the green and gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NRLBRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 23: Tino Fa’asuamaleaui<\/a> of the Titans looks dejected at a post match press conference after the round eight NRL<\/a> match between the Dolphins<\/a> and Gold Coast Titans<\/a> at Suncorp Stadium on April 23, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia<\/a>. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The NRL<\/a> has been aiming to expand globally in recent years, and Walters admitted that he understands the current international climate encourages these stars to don their home country’s colours.<\/p>\n

“Even if they don’t choose us… with the way the game is growing, I totally understand and respect their decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been reported that Haas will be the hardest to retain, with the star prop all but certain to represent Samoa<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just two weeks into his Australian Kangaroos coaching tenure, Kevin Walters has already been faced with the mammoth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-49027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}