{"id":74800,"date":"2025-08-17T10:21:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T10:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/74800\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T10:21:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T10:21:20","slug":"roosters-star-billy-smith-pledges-allegiance-to-england-shaun-wane-victor-radley-international-allegiance-news-videos-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/74800\/","title":{"rendered":"Roosters star Billy Smith pledges allegiance to England, Shaun Wane, Victor Radley, international allegiance, news, videos, highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roosters star Billy Smith has reportedly pledged his international allegiance to England, following the lead of club teammate Victor Radley and Titans star AJ Brimson.<\/p>\n

Like Radley, Smith now rules himself out of contention for State of Origin due to the current eligibility system which means players who represent tier-one nations New Zealand and England can\u2019t take part.<\/p>\n

However, according to the SMH<\/a>, that system will reportedly be reviewed before the 2026 World Cup \u2014 which could see a host of fresh faces playing for NSW and Queensland.<\/p>\n

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England coach Shaun Wane revealed Smith reached out to him regarding his decision, gunning for selection in this year\u2019s Ashes series.<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly Smith contacted me, and I do like it when players contact me to express their desire to represent England,\u201d Wane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very grateful for that and, like Victor Radley, it\u2019s a sign that he wants to play for England. It goes a long way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do rate him. I\u2019m a big fan of the NRL and all of the quality athletes playing in it. Billy Smith is one of the best athletes, he\u2019s a great centre and he would be a great asset.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like that he has contacted me, that means a lot and I will be pursuing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith has been one of the Roosters most consistent performers this season, but has previously been hampered by injuries.<\/p>\n

The talented centre has endured three ACL ruptures, a shoulder injury, a fractured jaw and a Lisfranc blow in what has been a stalled career.<\/p>\n

Warriors get two sent off in loss | 00:55<\/p>\n

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However, the fact Smith has endured that and got through it to be a mainstay in Trent Robinson\u2019s backline was a huge tick for Wane.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat shows character, which is what I like,\u201d Wane said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also a big fan of Victor Radley. He\u2019s as close to English as they come in terms of his mannerisms and the way he thinks, his personality. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d imagine Billy Smith would be the same sort of character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Samoa\u2019s big push to draw talent to their squad claimed a huge scalp on Sunday, with Payne Haas confirming he will represent the nation of his heritage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roosters star Billy Smith has reportedly pledged his international allegiance to England, following the lead of club teammate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,689,4442,57168,4532,57920,57926,1208,57919,2057,763,24270,57924,23995,57922,761,762,1736,3583,158,677,13390,57923,57918,57925,57921,4439,85,4534],"class_list":["post-74800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-billy-smith","tag-blitz-leads","tag-canberra-raiders","tag-club-teammate","tag-eligibility-system","tag-england","tag-england-coach","tag-europe","tag-fox-league","tag-home-side","tag-international-allegiance","tag-jye-gray","tag-means-players","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-zealand","tag-northern-europe","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-payne-haas","tag-pledges-allegiance","tag-send-offs","tag-series-looms","tag-shows-character","tag-south-sydney-rabbitohs","tag-sports","tag-victor-radley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74800","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=74800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}