{"id":949137,"date":"2026-11-01T21:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T21:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/949137\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T21:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T21:10:13","slug":"rugby-league-world-cup-news-2026-australia-jillaroos-send-pointed-message-after-flag-and-national-anthem-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/949137\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby League World Cup news 2026 | Australia Jillaroos send pointed message after flag and national anthem criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The debate around Jillaroos<\/a> players opting to wear an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flag, or to not sing the Australian anthem, is not bothering the team one bit. <\/p>\n

Criticism has come from a small faction around Australia\u2019s pre-game actions, with some questioning why players are proud to wear the jersey but not sing the national anthem.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of Australia walk onto the field wearing the three flags.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Coach Jess Skinner took the chance to smack down the haters after the Jillaroos beat Wales 124-6 on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are our national flags, it\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d she told reporters. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the Australian team. We\u2019re proud to play for our country. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skinner\u2019s playing group did not change their stance when they took to the field on Sunday, with a number of players opting not to sing the anthem while standing arm in arm with their teammates. <\/p>\n

Olivia Kernick is one of the stars being criticised by social media trolls, but their comments have not swayed her to sing the anthem, nor have they stopped her from wearing the Torres Strait Islander flag on her back before the side thrashed Wales at CommBank Stadium.<\/p>\n

Skinner, a proud Aboriginal and Maori woman, supports her players\u2019 choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll three flags have separate meanings for our country. We\u2019re a diverse country, there are many different cultures,\u201d she continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur team in particular is 23 (players) and our staff all come from different walks of life and cultural backgrounds, we celebrate that diversity. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you educate yourself about those flags you can\u2019t help but to be passionate to be a proud Australian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tarryn Aiken reiterated to reporters, including nine.com.au, that the noise is not affecting the team one bit, as the players know their values. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what we stand for as a team and what we represent,\u201d the star playmaker, who won a premiership with the Roosters this season, said. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Isabelle Kelly of Australia walks onto the field.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just proud to go out there and do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skinner shared a similar message about the topic. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, we are here to win a World Cup and play footy,\u201d the star coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe let our footy do the speaking for us. We\u2019re pretty focused and tight-knit. We do a job and then focus on the next job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The debate around Jillaroos players opting to wear an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flag, or to not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-949137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949137","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=949137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}