Billy Smith England

[Mickie Lane]

Will be picked to play for England against Australia if he stays fit.

[Waylander]

I also see that Rob Toia has pledged his allegiance to Tonga.

[Carlos Parra]

Interesting developments.

[HunchoRooster]

That’s yucky Billy.

[theGman]

Interesting developments.

Could trigger clauses in their contracts for more moolah!

[Rooster_Mark]

Could trigger clauses in their contracts for more moolah!

No club is putting contract clauses for more money for playing for England or Tonga.

[Arties Pie]

Time to change the rules for Origin eligibility, Why are we as in Australia giving players that declare their allegiance to another nation the Origin experience, It used to be a series where the players competed for Kangaroo jerseys.

[Billy Gunn]

Could trigger clauses in their contracts for more moolah!

I'm pretty sure that Nick won't have clauses in contracts, but if Billy had any it would be playing a number of games in a year. It would be a great boost for him to get picked,.

[MKCS]

Time to change the rules for Origin eligibility, Why are we as in Australia giving players that declare their allegiance to another nation the Origin experience, It used to be a series where the players competed for Kangaroo jerseys.

I agree with this view point but the issue it'd cause is all the players would pick Origin and Australia over the other nations which would lead to Australia just pumping everyone except New Zealand in international competition which as you probably know is how it was for many years and kind of still is to an extent.

Countries like Samoa and Tonga would need to play multiple international periods a year for it to be worthwhile I think. Why would someone like Luai for example be exclusively with Samoa when he could play Origin and Australia and get 7-8 games a year as opposed to 1 or 2 for Samoa.

[QWERTY]

I agree with this view point but the issue it'd cause is all the players would pick Origin and Australia over the other nations which would lead to Australia just pumping everyone except New Zealand in international competition which as you probably know is how it was for many years and kind of still is to an extent.

Countries like Samoa and Tonga would need to play multiple international periods a year for it to be worthwhile I think. Why would someone like Luai for example be exclusively with Samoa when he could play Origin and Australia and get 7-8 games a year as opposed to 1 or 2 for Samoa.

It seems like origin probably will be going down this path further, which I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world

The international game is the weakest part of Rugby League. I’m more than happy to see players representing other countries over Australia if it means that it will be a lot closer a comp. I don’t think either Origin or the Australian team would be seriously dented either. Australia still has the best team.

[Carlos Parra]

Give it time and the Pacific nations will be beating Australia at their own game.

[Inflictor]

Back on Billy.

Very well deserved if he makes the pommy team.

He probably should have a SOO cap if not for his injuries. Maybe even Australia.

He has had a stellar year. Long time coming but happy the club stuck with him. I thought I heard our stats are pretty good when he played.

[Chook2]

This will become a bigger issue over time with SOO as there are so many Pacific Islanders and they want to improve the international game so I don’t mind it

good on Billy could easily play SOO but also has Mitchell, best, turbo and critchon etc so will also benefit the roosters as we won’t loose him during SOO potentially

[caz]

good luck to him. if selected it means he won't be eligible for origin which is a double edged sword for roosters fans.
as far as eligibility goes i'm in the camp that allows flexibility. international league needs all the help it can get. i reckon rads should be allowed to play origin and for england. origin isn't a trial for the national team, it's state v state and rads is totally a nsw local. i'd be against non-aussies playing origin, say someone like sam burgess.
no doubt it's not ideal that players switch country allegiances or whatever but you want rep footy to be played by the best players. having a competitive international competition would be healthy for the game.

[Mickie Lane]

What would be the Aussie team?

Teddy
Coates
Best
Latrell
Lomax
Munster
Cleary
Collins
Grant
Lindsay Smith
Gus
Martin
Yeo

Hunt
Hudson Young
Carrigan
Cotter