Pick Your Team Potential Kiwis Team 2023

[regenerated borg]

Had a stab at picking a team in an earlier post.... but left edge backs have got me stumped... nearly all the centres and wings play club footy on the right.
Not keen on seeing players getting moved to the other side, sometimes that don't work.
Maybe someone on here knows of left side backs I might of overlooked..

 

[Cces]

Had a stab at picking a team in an earlier post.... but left edge backs have got me stumped... nearly all the centres and wings play club footy on the right.
Not keen on seeing players getting moved to the other side, sometimes that don't work.
Maybe someone on here knows of left side backs I might of overlooked..

I had the same thought process. Hiku might be on the right for the Cowboys but has plenty of experience on the left & is a proven Test player. His age & his impending move to Super League might mean he's not a realistic consideration though. Scott Sorenson could get the left Second Row spot

 

[Billyspleen75]

From a random Facebook page

 

[Tokyo Warrior]

Tonga aren't in the Pacific Championship?

 

[Worried2Death]

From a random Facebook page

View attachment 994

Tonga aren't playing Pacific tournament, must be going to England?

 

[shuffle]

That open things up for Warbrick.

 

[Shogun]

DWZ & SJ out, Brown & Warbrick in for me.

 

[bringinthebulls]

Is it sad that i couldnt care for international rugby league?

Until they sort a few things out i just find the international side of comps ilegitimate.

The eligibilaty is one thing that needs sorted instantly, i could probably represent england theough my great great great great great aunties, cousins, sisters best mate. But also (like the world cup) when there's conflict of interest around aussie refs, reffing games with the australian team playing, i just can't stand it.

There's a talent pool of refs out there from Aus/NZ & the UK, surely its not that hard to have a neutral ref.

Not ref hating or whinging, I just feel the game needs those standards like union, football etc when it comes to these sort of competitions. There is an international rugby league committee after all based in like france or some shit from memory, surely if they want to globally expand the game, this needs to be sorted

Same with the kiwis that play for Aus just to be eligible to play state of origin.. honestly that is why I cant give two flying fucks about internationals

 

[Defence]

Is it sad that i couldnt care for international rugby league?

Until they sort a few things out i just find the international side of comps ilegitimate.

The eligibilaty is one thing that needs sorted instantly, i could probably represent england theough my great great great great great aunties, cousins, sisters best mate. But also (like the world cup) when there's conflict of interest around aussie refs, reffing games with the australian team playing, i just can't stand it.

There's a talent pool of refs out there from Aus/NZ & the UK, surely its not that hard to have a neutral ref.

Not ref hating or whinging, I just feel the game needs those standards like union, football etc when it comes to these sort of competitions. There is an international rugby league committee after all based in like france or some shit from memory, surely if they want to globally expand the game, this needs to be sorted

Same with the kiwis that play for Aus just to be eligible to play state of origin.. honestly that is why I cant give two flying fucks about internationals

I love my international footy but agree on both points.
Should be able to play for your parents place of birth but grand parent is a stretch.
Also- origin already has the criteria that u have to be there since 13- no need for further criteria to discriminate between tiers (which are load if shite anyway).

 

[SBW1]

Wouldn't be surprised if there are not very many Wahs in the Kiwis this year. Wonder if Madge sticks with last year's squad. Origin is slowly opening up to allow Kiwis and Poms, I believe it is in a few years time. Madge has also been mentioned as a possible future Blues coach, early days at this stage. Wonder if he could do both jobs.

 

[sup42]

Yeah im sort of on the fence with Mulitalo. I mean playing ability wise i rate him but the fact we're probably his sloppy seconds has never sat well with me.

Warbrick, Isaako and Marzhew (just not sure who theyve thrown their hat in with).....id be happy with any of them tbh......and with DWZ i cant remember ever a time when we've had this many Kiwi eligible wingers who are in form and among the top try scorers for the season.

Mulitalo seems to play for himself, you want wingers at Rep level that work their arses off with carries and all the other non glamour bits.

He is also someone that can be targeted and got to by the opposition. I guess I am not a big fan when there are other options, If Rapana was an option I would have him all day over a Mulitalo...work - ethic.

 

[sup42]

I wish SJ was playing, the Kiwis are more important to me than the Warriors, always have been.

But I am happy enough that he is out since he has a leg issue so it is a moot point, and we need to look to the future with Brown and Hughes.

Still it would have been great to have SJ in camp as a Kiwis mentor.

You cannot have everything, but yeah I always wanted to see what SJ and Hughes together, while both in form looks like.

We would have had kicking options to rival them all and it would be the first time we had two in form half backs in the same side, that alone would be worth the curiosity points.

Last time we had two genuine Rep halves to call on was the overlap of Freeman and Clayton Friends era

 

[Defence]

I wish SJ was playing, the Kiwis are more important to me than the Warriors, always have been.

But I am happy enough that he is out since he has a leg issue so it is a moot point, and we need to look to the future with Brown and Hughes.

Still it would have been great to have SJ in camp as a Kiwis mentor.

You cannot have everything, but yeah I always wanted to see what SJ and Hughes together, while both in form looks like.

We would have had kicking options to rival them all and it would be the first time we had two in form half backs in the same side, that alone would be worth the curiosity points.

Last time we had two genuine Rep halves to call on was the overlap of Freeman and Clayton Friends era

I remember a game in chch against France- freeman was in a bit of a slump and friend had come back from the uk and been recalled to the kiwis.
Freeman was having another poor game and got replaced in the second half by friend- who ran on the field, feed a scrum- picked it up and ran straight through to score an awesome solo try.
Freeman was still walking down the sideline and heard the crowd roar and turned around to see friend celebrating- he just shook his head.
A week later freeman won man of the match in a huge upset over Australia with friend again scoring off the bench.
Loved both those guys- gun players.

 

[PhilsySH35]

Is it sad that i couldnt care for international rugby league?

Until they sort a few things out i just find the international side of comps ilegitimate.

The eligibilaty is one thing that needs sorted instantly, i could probably represent england theough my great great great great great aunties, cousins, sisters best mate. But also (like the world cup) when there's conflict of interest around aussie refs, reffing games with the australian team playing, i just can't stand it.

There's a talent pool of refs out there from Aus/NZ & the UK, surely its not that hard to have a neutral ref.

Not ref hating or whinging, I just feel the game needs those standards like union, football etc when it comes to these sort of competitions. There is an international rugby league committee after all based in like france or some shit from memory, surely if they want to globally expand the game, this needs to be sorted

Same with the kiwis that play for Aus just to be eligible to play state of origin.. honestly that is why I cant give two flying fucks about internationals

Agree, the whole eligibility thing is a real bug bear for me, SOO, residential rule all come into it. first and only rule should be... country you're born in, that's who you represent. clear cut no grey area's, we've had so many incidents over the years, who can forget the guy (forgot his name) who played for Queensland, then for nz and then Oz, as the yanks say what a cluster fxxk. there's many more examples. all because our bigger and richer brother Oz wants all the best players!!! the pinnacle of playing rugby league should be playing for your country, dying for your country, in the world wars 1 & 2 ala the anzac alliance, the inference being the jersey is very sacred, has very deep meaning, choose well, we only want players who will bleed for the jersey, not just for money!!! when you put on the black and white jersey and play against oz, you are facing a upward battle against a team who have all the advantages money, population, the whole smazzozle, to beating oz is the pinnacle of any kiwi player, this is the reason why I am a Warriors supporter. I don't care anymore, where-ever you're born is who you rep, cos I'd love to get egan to play for the kiwi's - that's how mucked up I am I'll take anyone!!

 

[Cces]

Criteria should be at least 3 year residency & if you're dual eligible through birth or lineage you need a calendar year off Tests before you can switch between nations, regardless of tiers. I also think they need to follow the SOO rule that if your parent represented that country you're automatically eligible too. The reason for that is most of players who represent the islands do so through their parents or grandparents so the kids of the current crop of players like Taumalolo (I may be one generation out in his example) can't represent their culture in the future which would just revert International League to the traditional 3 countries

 

[tyrael]

The thing about international is of they do it right, NRL gets the benefit because there are more fans.

Australia needs to stop caring about winning at all costs and promote the game.

Players shouldn't be able to flip flop every year who they want to play for. There should be a pool of money and everyone gets paid relatively the same so it's not like getting bribed to play for a certain country.

Or Australia should stop caring all together and just make NRL bigger. That AFL grand final was amazing yesterday.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

1

Who are the eligible players that regularly play left edge Second Row? Kenny Bromwich, Scott Sorensen..... anyone else come to mind?

Niukore could, I would like to see Riki go there, mostly for warriors scouting reasons

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

1 C N Klokstad
2 W Warbrick
3 M Timoko
4 A Pompey
5 R Mulitalo
6 D Brown
7 J Hughes
8 M Leota
9 B Smith
10 J F Harris
11 J Riki
12 M Niukore
13 J Tapine

14 P Crossland
15 G Neame
16 S Sorenson
17 I Papalii

 

[SBW1]

Not a bad team, I do expect a number of Aussies to possibly not turnout either. Will be interesting to see who Toa Samoa field, will the Panthers make themselves available?

 

[nzwarriorsfaithful]

1 C N Klokstad
2 W Warbrick
3 M Timoko
4 A Pompey
5 R Mulitalo
6 D Brown
7 J Hughes
8 M Leota
9 B Smith
10 J F Harris
11 J Riki
12 M Niukore
13 J Tapine

14 P Crossland
15 G Neame
16 S Sorenson
17 I Papalii

Smith and Crossland not playing