Wayne Bennett may be a Queensland legend, but it hasn't stopped the veteran coach making a number of bold declarations, including the belief that Victor Radley should still be allowed to represent New South Wales.
International eligibility is becoming an increasingly hot topic as the game returns to the world scale, and forcing some players into representative decisions that have career-long repercussions.
Victor Radley is a prime example, his recent decision to represent his father's heritage and don an England jersey means the fiery lock will never represent Australia or New South Wales due to the Three Lions being a Tier One nation.
Dylan Walker had an appeal to represent New Zealand at the World Cup denied due to the Warriors' recruit having represented the Kangaroos in a Four Nations series back in 2014, despite playing for the Maori All Stars the past three seasons.
Now, the sudden rise of Samoa and Tonga have chins wagging over the possibility of the pacific nations being promoted to Tier One status, meaning the likes of Brian To'o, Junior Paulo, Josh Papalii, Daniel Tupou and more would be denied Origin jerseys in the future.
While there are voices on both sides of the fence, Bennett has been firm in his stance on international eligibility.
โLet's stop the bulls***,โ Bennett declared toย The Daily Telegraph.
โIt's not that complicated.ย Everyone needs to think about what is in the game's best interests here.
โWe have to acknowledge where international football is heading.ย We had more than 600,000 people who got up in the middle of the night to watch that game.
โThat shows there is a market for it, and we are in the entertainment business.โ
Record breaking TV ratings confirmed the smash success of rugby league's return to the international level after a COVID-enforced hiatus, and while Bennett believes Origin eligibility rules are fine as is, it's the next step up that requires tweaking.
โWhat I'm saying is the criteria to play for Queensland and NSW must not change,โ Bennett added.
โBut what should change is that players should be available for selection for a whole lot of countries outside Australia.
โVictor Radley should be allowed to play for NSW and also play for England. But he will never play for Australia.
โHe made that choice. But he still ticks all the boxes to play Origin because he grew up playing his football in NSW."
It appears for Bennett it comes down to more than just heritage, but where you've been raised as well.
โWhat 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.
โSo under the criteria as it is now they qualify for Origin.
โThen 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.
โHerbie Farnworth is another who doesn't tick the boxes.ย So the criteria stays the same in that respect.
โBut we have to acknowledge where international football is heading.โ
It's still unclear whether Samoa are being considered for a Tier One promotion after becoming just the sixth nation to feature in a World Cup final, however if the rules were to continue as is, the promotion would prove more detrimental than successful for the rising nation.
