{"id":909527,"date":"2026-09-29T07:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/909527\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T07:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:32:17","slug":"tino-faasuamaleaui-makes-kangaroos-call-ahead-of-rugby-league-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/909527\/","title":{"rendered":"Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui makes Kangaroos call ahead of Rugby League World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui has pledged his international allegiance to Australia for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Despite playing seven Tests for Australia to date, Fa\u2019asuamaleaui is also eligible to play for Samoa and had toyed with the idea of representing his father\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n

However, according to NRL reporter Pete Badel, Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters <\/p>\n

confirmed the Titans star has committed to Australia ahead of the Rugby League World Cup. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had chats with Tino. He is playing for Australia,\u201d Walters said, according to Badel.<\/p>\n

Fa\u2019asuamaleaui made his Test debut for Samoa in 2019 before being picked for the Kangaroos.<\/p>\n

However, despite recommitting to Australia ahead of the Ashes series last year, Fa\u2019asuamaleaui was said to have been weighing up representing Samoa in the upcoming World Cup.<\/p>\n

Announcing he would represent Australia last year, Fa\u2019asuamaleaui said: \u201cI don\u2019t want to get too emotional, but my Samoan side I am very proud of, and hopefully I can create another legacy of just someone that passionately represented my country.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully I can change some kids\u2019 lives, where kids from Samoa, kids from Australia, Gympie or anywhere look at me and go I want to be a Tino one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The father of three girls previously said the decision on his international allegiance was being made tougher by his children, with his daughters wanting him to wear the blue jersey again.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughters wanted me to represent Samoa,\u201d he told AAP last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what made the decision hard. I\u2019m very proud of my Samoan culture, my last name and all my family back in Samoa. I\u2019m still representing them every time I run out. Who I am doesn\u2019t change because of the jersey I wear.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because I\u2019m playing for the green and gold doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m less passionate about Samoa. I love my Samoan family. They all support me no matter what. They know who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui makes Kangaroos call ahead of Rugby League World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui has pledged his international allegiance to Australia for the World Cup. Despite playing seven Tests for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[477638,477643,378408,401986,477629,4764,454603,477649,64,63,477637,338604,23812,380445,477633,5284,160315,378590,380079,376861,477645,394487,477651,3195,477646,12756,45755,36045,477632,444066,420059,477635,477650,477639,477648,761,762,158,477634,307881,139707,5993,477642,477640,85,477647,477641,378533,377643,422488,378979,413628,477631,388317,477636,477630,72503,477644,262936,55881,22333],"class_list":["post-909527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-asuamaleaui","tag-s-heritage-however","tag-378408","tag-a-huge-call","tag-a-tino","tag-aap","tag-all-my-family","tag-another-legacy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-badel-fa","tag-chats","tag-date","tag-every-time","tag-faasuamaleaui","tag-gold","tag-gympie","tag-his-children","tag-his-daughters","tag-his-father","tag-his-international-allegiance","tag-his-test-debut","tag-just-someone","tag-kangaroos","tag-kangaroos-coach-kevin-walters","tag-kids","tag-last-year","tag-lives","tag-massive-kangaroos-call","tag-my-country","tag-my-daughters","tag-my-last-name","tag-my-samoan-culture","tag-my-samoan-family","tag-my-samoan-side","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-reporter-pete-badel","tag-one-day","tag-rugby-league-world-cup","tag-samoa","tag-seven-tests","tag-some-kids","tag-sports","tag-the-ashes-series","tag-the-blue-jersey","tag-the-decision","tag-the-father","tag-the-green","tag-the-idea","tag-the-jersey","tag-the-kangaroos-however","tag-the-rugby-league-world-cup","tag-the-titans-star","tag-the-upcoming-world","tag-the-world-cup","tag-three-girls","tag-tino","tag-tino-faasuamaleaui","tag-walters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909527","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=909527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}