International league is a poach-a-thon. It used to be easy, if you were brown you played for the kiwis, no matter the link.
Then the islands became a viable option, so heritage got really blurred.
Kiwis. Samoans. Tongans. Unless they are warriors juniors they are all Australian developed.
And we can't whinge. We've had a lot of "my dad was from NZ" over the years
@mariner4life said in NRL 2023 + Internationals:
International league is a poach-a-thon.
There is a guy from a Subbies club here in Sydney. Anglo surname, white as fuck.
Playing an "international" for Chile v Malta tomorrow.
I reckon the Malta team would have far more Maltese in it - Borg, Camilleri, Farrugia, Zammit, Galea - they're fucking everywhere!
@Stargazer said in NRL 2023 + Internationals:
Trying to learn from their mistakes, from letting Ivan walk because they wouldn't give him a long term deal
@Stargazer said in NRL 2023 + Internationals:
Leo Thompson leading the Kiwis' haka.
I find it interesting that the newbie is leading the haka. Would be like if Tamaiti Williams led it in his first text.
Kiwi’s on their heels in defence.
Poor exit (hopefully that’s the last time I write that in the next 12 hours)
We are playing poorly. Look a bit disorganised in attack. Aussie ball runners are hitting the line with some venom
Sweet move by Jerome.
In rugby that would be a YC too I reckon. Blatant after the kick take down. Poor organisation by the Aussies in defence there.
The knock on rule in league changes week to week. A straight drop down like that was a knock on last week.
Dylan Edwards is a gun player. For a winger he gets so involved in the play. Not the biggest guy either.
The Roos defence has been awesome. Getting lots of numbers in and slowing our play of the balls.
There is an enormous gap in ability between the two teams.
This looks like tests from the 90s where we would start full fo aggression and bluster and then get pumped
@mariner4life said in NRL 2023 + Internationals:
There is an enormous gap in ability between the two teams.
This looks like tests from the 90s where we would start full fo aggression and bluster and then get pumped
A key difference from those dark days is that at least our forwards are fit these days.
It’s the work of the spine where Aussies are all over us. Getting Joey more involved will help us.
If Aus picked a decent fullback they would go a lot better
Imagine Ponga or Walsh out there?
Aussies doing a brilliant illegal job at lying on our side and just making it hard for us to get quick play of the balls
They really push the 10m as well.
@mariner4life said in NRL 2023 + Internationals:
We have no attacking shape at all
Yeah we don’t have any general’s out there. Jahrome is a decent player but we need SJ out there to control the play.
Eek, it's getting embarrassing now.
Although, I'm still kind of confident for next week. I haven't seen a recent Kiwis team this flat. This is like an early 90s team.
@mariner4life said in NRL 2023 + Internationals:
Thank fuck for horse racing or this is looking an ugly 24 hours for NZ
I'm not a horse guy so I'm now pinning everything on the ABs to restore national pride ... there goes my previous feeling of calm before that match.
