It isn't true either.
There are some great young poly playmakers coming through now.
Players like Aloi Taufaao who is a half or hooker who played for Tonga against Samoa this year is 18 years old and as clever a little player as i've ever seen. The thing that could stop him stepping up to the seniors is how tiny he is.
Another great example is Pete Mata'utia who has been playing for Samoa for the past 2 years, starting at age 19. He has been team captain and playmaker in Knights sides since he was 15. All four Mata'utia brothers are a bit on the small side, but amazingly strong for their size, and all four are natural leaders in their teams.
Young poly guys are often painfully shy, which makes it hard for them to take a leadership role, but once you can get them to open up a bit, they are as good as anyone (of course).

Actually, a great example of the change in roles for poly players is the two Sam Stewarts - Sam Stewart senior was the first captain of the Knights and a hard running prop with few skills. Sam Stewart jnr was one of the smartest and most skillfull halfbacks i've ever seen in the juniors. He led several junior sides, but gave the game away when he was accepted at university to study medicine.

This links into why I reckon England are so good at producing forwards, but the backs aren't up to the same standards.

Soccer dominates in this country, smaller kids don't like taking the knocks, so they the smaller kids stick to the game where they aren't going to get smashed every week. The bigger lads stick with the game, whereasthe smaller lads have moved elsewhere.

It makes sense to move a kid up an age grade if they are too large, but I'm not an age-grade coach, so I'm not really one to have an opinion.

dont yawnion do this in NZ already?

i think there needs to be some movement, if anything it helps the big kids as they develop their all round game rather than just running through everyone. plus, if your small and AMAZING theyre not gonna stop you playing with the big kids are they?

i was the big kid plowing over everyone growing up, even when i played 1 year older, did me no good, i stilll cant pass...

I think it was on either this weeks Footy show or Sunday Roast that they mentioned 40% of the NRL and 75% of the under 20's are Polynesian. So it's obvious they will play a huge role in the game going forward.

What worries me is how this is managed from a brand perspective, Will the typical 'white' fan still support RL in 10/20 years or move over to say AFL/Soccer.

This thread is beginning to look like something out of apartheid South Africa – why wouldn’t ‘white’ people support their club/code due to the ethnicity of the players?

Is Australia really that backward that the colour of a players skin impacts whether you would support them?

Because no white American follows NBA...

just calling it like i see it

polyenesians have their strengths and weaknesses as do non polynesians

im recognized their gifts as well but there are some areas where they are lacking

discipline is one of them

they need more coaching and mentoring than non islanders

lots of nrl coaches have mentioned it about the additional mentoring many of them require

nope it wont

you have loads of black players in the nfl its just like that

as talented as the african americans are in the NFL, we have our own version being the polynesians whose body types are perfect for RL

my favourites players are either polynesians, aboriginals or kiwis

i find the other players boring, playing a robotic style of football

the guys ive mentioned above are either explosive and break through the line or nimble and step around it

id have no problem if the NRL was all aboriginal, islander or kiwi

Firstly dally....I posted this last year on the NRL board where it belongs and was told by people, including you, that this was boll0x..........but now you are on the VT as the giver of new news



Anyway.......given:
the lack of pacific islanders in near proximity to the UK
the regulations on UK teams playing overseas players
the fact that this is an australian issue that has NO affect on the UK game.....
...I am surprised it's got to three pages......

Australian RL is no longer the working mans game....it is the game of choice of the islanders and with a very few exceptions, in 10 years, all NRL teams will be made up of 95% pacifika players and they ARL will have f()cked their herritage countries of birth by b'stardising their precious SOO even more

. NSW V Qland with 1 or 2 white faces on the park......outstanding work ARL



The future of RL if the aussies are left in charge is essentially that of AFL......a sport watched by millions in its own back yard but by nobody else.....because it's a local sport.

A nothing thread with little or no impact on SL.......and until the ARL/NRL take international league seriously then it has no place on the VT.........but then again, dally messenger can't get a thread on the NRL boards now without being show up for a no-nothing

I guess the weight catorgory thing is to avoid the "Give it to the big kid" strategy, which is not condusive to improving the skill side of the game.

As for the influx in polynesians - surely this is oppotunituy to boost the international scene of our game?
Even if England aren't particulary benifitting, surely if nations like Tonga, Samoa & Fiji can pick from this pool of players, then the Southern Hemisphere at least could have a very interesting international set up.

The international scene is the massive difference between the two codes, but in terms of club rugby, reports on here suggest the NRL is outstripping the super14s in Aus quite dramatically.
Proffessionalism in RU has meant their all-encompassing international scene is a lot less competetive than when the world cup started in 89 or whenever. If we managed to boost the international scene with more decent fixtures for the likes of Samoa, then these kids will be less enamoured with qulaifying for the Green and Gold.

Perhaps England should be inviting Samoa and Fiji over for Autumn internationals, it might help us get some decent international veiwing instead of us getting bummed by Austrailia every year.

True GF. I recall telling Dally 3 seasons ago about the concern of the NRL. It was after I went to Belmore for Rd1 of the juniors with Norths when I worked there and saw this huge geezer in the centres for the Doggies in the U18s. His name was Jamal Idris!!!

and black people can't play tennis and white people can't sprint



Maybe you can explain why the Warriors are only mid table on penalties conceded?

Do the Warriors even have the most Polynesian players?

What about your statement that “other than play making roles and lock and hooker i can see future NRL teams being largely Polynesian” – this is implicitly stating that the Polynesian players cannot perform these roles, despite their ‘gifts’ (whatever that means)

its a pretty simple statement, once which was elaborated above

read it a few more times, maybe itll sink in then

i didnt know you 3 seasons ago lol

anyway im putting on ignore for now ....sorry but enough is enough

have a nice life

Sorry, can you clarify what you mean by "once which was elaborated above" as I have no idea what that means?

nope im not here to teach people comprehension skills, sorry

once ive repeated the same points a few times i just leave it at that

either someone just doesnt get it, or does but doesnt like the point

all the best in the future

OK, never mind then

All the best to you too

Should it bother the NRL or ARL?? We all know that the international game won't improve much because of this....why? Because as at present New Zealand and Australia will continue to pick the best of these players and grant them the appropriate nationality to play. The rest will just be left to join Tonga, Fiji and Samoa........the shape of the players may change, but the super powers won't.

More likely is that England will fall even further behind the southern hemisphere sides because of this...I mean look, we can't even live with the teams physically in the outside backs at present...imagine how it will be in the next few years!

What a ing knob.

It's an old story.....but I can understand why dally messenger, after being pretty much outed as a no-nothing on the NRL boards and after being warned about the number of "nothing" threads he starts with links to someone elses story has moved to the VT.....
Now here, he posts a story (with a link) but when it is pointed out that it was raised by someone else on the NRL board over 12 months ago and at the time he said it was rubbish..he spits his dummy out and puts someone else on ignore



dally messenger....alone, unloved by his mother and that desperate he has had to create multible log ins to have a discussion with himself



Still..he can console himself with the fact that he made sure we all knew where the bomb kick/up'n'under came from......Gridiron

Considering you joined here 4 seasons ago, you may want to rethink that. But I guess I'll just have to carry that cross you've given me.