Payne Haas has been a massive addition to the Samoa team for the Pacific Championships.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an awkward situation that feels almost discriminatory, as the Origin door is shut for players of New Zealand heritage who also want to represent the Kiwis. The best current example is Kalyn Ponga, whose parents are both from New Zealand<\/a>. He has already represented New Zealand M\u0101ori in the All Stars match, and the Herald has been told by multiple sources that he wants to play for the Kiwis. However, to do that, the 27-year-old would have to shelve any Maroons ambitions for the rest of his career.<\/p>\n It\u2019s understood to be a similar scenario with gun Canberra fullback Kaeo Weekes. His mother and extended family are from New Zealand, and he is even named after the small Northland town where she grew up. But Weekes \u2013 who was raised in Sydney \u2013 wants to play for NSW. There are other players and will be more in the future, given the current migration patterns and the fact that around 45% of NRL players are of M\u0101ori or Polynesian descent.<\/p>\n New Zealand Rugby League chief executive Greg Peters says current Origin eligibility rules need to be re-examined.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s only two choices, all in or all out,\u201d Peters told the Herald. \u201cSo if you otherwise satisfy Origin eligibility because you\u2019re in Australia under the age of 13 and at school in one of those states, then you should be eligible. And if you\u2019re not, then it should be all out, so only people who have pleaded their loyalty to Australia play, which is not the desirable outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, New Zealand are the most disadvantaged country in this because our players can\u2019t play in Origin, whereas Samoa and Tongan players can. It certainly doesn\u2019t seem fair. I\u2019m not saying that every Kiwi should be available for Origin, but if you are eligible and you also qualify for New Zealand, why can\u2019t you play for the Kiwis too?\u201d<\/p>\n Although Peters refused to label it a double standard, it certainly seems like one. It\u2019s not a new situation. Palmerston North-born James Tamou caused controversy more than a decade ago<\/a>, when he switched to the Kangaroos \u2013 out of a desire to play State of Origin \u2013 despite being included in earlier Kiwis squads and playing for New Zealand M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n However, the NRL seems to be seriously considering an amendment to the rules.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is something we\u2019re going to have to look at again, and to me there does seem to be a stronger push this time for change,\u201d Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) chairman Peter V\u2019landys told the Sydney Morning Herald in July this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a strong argument that if you\u2019ve played your footy in Australia before the age of 13 and you are eligible to play Origin, why shouldn\u2019t you be able to?<\/p>\n \u201cIf we were to change the rules, it would only be for New Zealand and English players.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re the tier-one countries impacted. [Players from] tier-two nations like Samoa and Tonga can still play State of Origin and represent those nations.\u201d<\/p>\n Peters is hopeful a decision will be made before the start of next season to offer clarity before the 2026 League World Cup. <\/p>\n Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a sports journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Payne Haas has been a massive addition to the Samoa team for the Pacific Championships. It\u2019s an awkward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3043,4101,84021,84022,14154,50595,84019,807,111,139,69,1118,49754,62589,5415,84020,26631,5902,213,13672,6100,6730],"class_list":["post-118866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-call","tag-debate","tag-eligibility","tag-fairness","tag-give","tag-haas","tag-kalyn","tag-kiwis","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-origin","tag-payne","tag-playing","tag-ponga","tag-reignites","tag-samoa","tag-sports","tag-state","tag-still","tag-would"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}