Bennett tackles eligibility

MAROONS coach Wayne Bennett has called for a review of Origin’s eligibility rules following the farce that will result in proud Queenslander Luke Keary making his NSW debut tonight.

Six years ago, Keary was so desperate to wear Maroon he wrote a letter to the NRL asking to be declared a Queenslander.

He was born in Ipswich, lived in the region for 10 years and was chosen in Queensland’s junior Emerging Origin program alongside Anthony Milford and Dylan Napa in 2012.

While Milford and Napa have graduated to Queensland’s senior Origin ranks, Keary finds himself in the NSW system, handed the sky blue No.6 jumper he never wanted to wear.

Under the code’s representative eligibility rules revised in December 2012, Keary’s Maroons application was rejected and he was ordered to represent the Blues.

Understandably reluctant to rock the political boat, Keary has tried to stay out of the selection debate regarding his Origin allegiance, but Bennett said birthright should be a consideration for players with dual-eligibility status.

“If all the other criteria is a bit messy and muddy, I suppose that (a player’s birthplace) should be a criteria,” Bennett said. “Most rules need revising from time to time, things do change.

“There is a lot of change in our game and who plays the game now, so maybe it is worthwhile looking at the rules. But it won’t help anybody this year.

“We have a wonderful player anyway at five-eighth in Cameron Munster and we have Daly Cherry-evans at halfback, so it’s not as if we don’t have good players.”

Keary will be a critical part of NSW’S playmaking spine in the series opener, but Bennett said Queensland had tried to have the Ipswich-born pivot cleared for Maroons selection.

“Keary has been considered for Queensland,” he said.

“I understand the QRL have sent letters away and everything else, but they (the NRL) didn’t consider that he should be a Queenslander, so he is playing for NSW.

“I first went to a meeting about that (Origin eligibility) 10 or 15 years ago because it was a shemozzle then, so what’s changed?

“We haven’t had a lot of problems with it since but there is always one example that will challenge us all.”