Wayne Bennett has called for an overhaul of State of Origin eligibility rules to allow international rugby league to thrive following a successful World Cup.
It comes amid talk of Samoa and Tonga possibly being elevated to tier one status in the future — which would see the likes of Brian To’o and Junior Paulo forced to make a decision between representing New South Wales of Samoa.
Under the current rules, a player can’t play for New South Wales or Queensland if they play for a tier one nation other than Australia.
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“Let’s stop the bulls***. It’s not that complicated,” Bennett said..
“Everyone needs to think about what is in the game’s best interests here.
“We have to acknowledge where international football is heading.
“We had more than 600,000 people who got up in the middle of the night to watch that game.
“That shows there is a market for it, and we are in the entertainment business.”’
There was plenty of interest abroad in the World Cup too with News Corp reporting the semi-final clash between England and Samoa drew in 2.38 million viewers on BBC — 21.1 per cent of the overall market.
Bennett stressed that “we have to acknowledge where international football is heading” and to do that the rules need to be tweaked.
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He used to be of the belief that Origin players should only be allowed to represent Australia but has changed his tune.
As per the Origin rules, a player must have been born in NSW or Queensland, or have moved there prior to turning 13 to represent their selected state.
Bennett believes those rules can remain, but wants the rule barring Victor Radley from playing for NSW because he represented England at the World Cup scrapped.
“What I’m saying is the criteria to play for Queensland and NSW must not change,” he said.
“But what should change is that players should be available for selection for a whole lot of countries outside Australia.
“Victor Radley should be allowed to play for NSW and also play for England. But he will never play for Australia.
“He made that choice. But he still ticks all the boxes to play Origin because he grew up playing his football in NSW.
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“What a lot of people seem to be struggling to understand is that these players like Junior Paulo and Jarome Luai and Brian To’o, they’ve all grown up in Sydney.
“So under the criteria as it is now they qualify for Origin.
“Then you have a bloke like Tom Burgess, who doesn’t tick the boxes, because Tom grew up in England. So he shouldn’t be playing Origin.
“So the criteria stays the same in that respect.”
