Rumblings can once again be heard emanating from the bowels of rugby league headquarters over the eligibility rules governing State of Origin selection. Australian Rugby League Commission [ARLC] chairman Peter V'landys confirmed that changes will be considered to lessen the impact on the New Zealand and England Test sides.
Currently any player who represents a tier one nation, New Zealand and England, can not play State of Origin. Meanwhile the tier two nations are full of Origin stars, with players such as Stephen Crichton, Brian To'o, and Jarome Luai pledging their allegiances to Tonga.
"It is a strong argument that if you've played your footy in Australia before the age of 13 and you are eligible to play Origin, why shouldn't you be able to?" V'landys told Fox Sports.
"If we were to change the rules, it would only be for New Zealand and English players.
"We want a strong international game and calendar, and we want Australia to be challenged.
"And we want to respect the players and the nations they want to play for, and the argument for change is one we'll consider."
The latest ruminations come in the wake of Raiders' star Kaeo Weekes reportedly turning down approaches from New Zealand to keep his chances of playing for New South Wales alive. Similarly, Newcastle's Kalyn Ponga gave up his dream of playing rugby league for New Zealand for his bigger dream of representing Queensland. Victor Radley might well have found himself in a Blues jersey, if not for his decision to represent England.
"A guy like Kalyn Ponga is a good example. He's a proud Maori, proud New Zealander and a proud Queenslander. But at the moment he doesn't have the ability to play for New Zealand should he choose to. He's a really good example," said NZRL chief Greg Peters.
What the ARL needs to address is the fundamental purpose of the State of Origin series. It was initially promoted as the best players from both states battling it out for rugby league supremacy and, particularly in Kangaroos Tour years, a selection trial to help determine who would pull on the green and gold.
Over the years the eligibility rules have been changed and loosened. There has always been outcry over whether the occasional player was truly a Queenslander or a New South Welshman, but there was never any doubt over the fact that they were all Australian, looking to promote themselves at the representative level into an Australia jersey.
Then the Rugby League World Cup started to take on what logically would seem to be undeserved significance. Rugby league may be "the greatest game on earth", but most of the earth is playing different football codes. Competitiveness at the international level could not be achieved without a good hard look at stretching eligibility.
And so we had a search throughout the NRL, lower grades and England's Super League for players with parents or grandparents who originated from countries that were assembling teams; be it Greece, Malta, Jamaica, Cook Islands, Italy or any of the other 16 teams that qualified for the 2021 edition of the Rugby League World Cup played in England in 2022, thanks to COVID. It also required a change in the State of Origin rules, whereby players who had played Origin were no longer restricted to being selected by Australia. Players of Polynesian background in particular could choose to play for their nation of heritage, as long as that nation was deemed to be tier two.
And it worked to an extent, with Tonga and Samoa fielding extremely competitive teams, and Samoa even beating host England in the semifinal, before almost inevitably losing to Australia in the final. Now with the next World Cup set to be played in 2026, the powers that run rugby league are keen to help in whatever way they can to ensure that the 10 teams involved this time are as competitive as possible. For some reason that includes tweaking the State of Origin rules to ensure that England and New Zealand have access to whoever qualifies, regardless of whether they have chosen to play Origin.
There was even talk some years back that players not eligible to play for either state, such as England's Sam Burgess and James Graham, be allowed to play Origin because they were among the best in the game. Thankfully that idea was stamped out pretty quickly, as it would have made the whole Origin concept farcical.
So, should players be allowed to play Origin even though they would prefer to play internationally for New Zealand or England? Should Origin eligibility and international eligibility be two completely unrelated rules? What direction is going to best preserve the gem that is State of Origin football, while doing everything to boost the game internationally?
Thankfully, I'm not the one making those decisions, but they need to be made soon and in the best interests of everyone involved.