{"id":935909,"date":"2026-10-21T07:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/935909\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T07:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:46:12","slug":"rugby-league-world-cup-news-2026-laurie-daley-defends-kangaroos-players-after-australian-anthem-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/935909\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby League World Cup news 2026: Laurie Daley defends Kangaroos players after Australian anthem backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laurie Daley<\/a> has defended players who choose not to sing the national anthem, as footage emerges of past Australian stars staying silent. <\/p>\n

In one of the major talking points from the first weekend of Rugby League World Cup<\/a> action, some players from both the Kangaroos<\/a> and Jillaroos<\/a> have copped criticism due to their decision not to sign loudly and proudly pre-game, compared to some of their rivals from nations like Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kangaroos players during the national anthem.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

It has become a lingering talking point every time the green and gold outfit take the field<\/a>, despite many within the game unfazed and no rules in place that forces players to sing the anthem if they don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Sky Sports Radio\u2019s The Big Sports Breakfast, former Australian star and NSW Blues coach Daley explained why he doesn\u2019t have a problem with the players\u2019 stance. He reflected on the fact that players from his era also didn\u2019t all sing the anthem with gusto during his playing days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you have to sing the anthem to feel passionate about your country? I never sang the anthem, I just didn\u2019t wanna sing the anthem,\u201d Daley said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make me not proud of Australia, I just didn\u2019t feel the urge to sing it. I was very proud, I was very happy to represent Australia, but I just wasn\u2019t a singer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see an issue with it if people don\u2019t want to sing it. I don\u2019t see an issue with it being non-patriotic because they don\u2019t sing it, I think it\u2019s just their choice. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see that massive of an issue with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daley\u2019s comments come after a clip of himself, among other Aussie players, not singing the anthem during a match against Great Britain.<\/p>\n

Steve Renouf, Andrew Ettingshausen and Brad Fittler<\/a> also notably stood silent during the 35-second video shared on social media.<\/p>\n

In last week\u2019s tournament opener, Reece Walsh shed tears during the national anthem<\/a> as he represented the Kangaroos for the first time on home soil.<\/p>\n

Australia will play Fiji in their second RLWC group stage game on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laurie Daley has defended players who choose not to sing the national anthem, as footage emerges of past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":935910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-935909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935909","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=935909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/935910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}