Fifita yet to declare allegiance to NSW
New South Wales coach Brad Fittler has revealed Andrew Fifita is yet to declare his allegiance to the Blues as he weighs up his representative future.
The Cronulla prop could find himself at the centre of a wrangle between the NSW State of Origin side and Tonga following his controversial defection to the Pacific minnows last year.
Fifita snubbed Australia to represent Tonga at the World Cup and he is still considering who he will turn out for in 2018.
Because Tonga are a tier-two nation, Fifita is able to represent both Tonga and NSW this year.
However, with Tonga’s Pacific test against Samoa to be played a day before Origin II, Fifita has a difficult decision on the horizon.
‘‘I’m not sure what Andrew’s doing,’’ Fittler said.
‘‘I think Andrew said he was going to play for Tonga, I haven’t spoken to Andrew as yet. I’m sure we’ll have a conversation at some stage.’’
Fifita last week said he still wanted to win an Origin series, one of the few things left on his bucket list after missing the 2014 series victory due to injury
The decision could yet be taken out of his hands with Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Jordan McLean making strong statements during Australia’s World Cup win to join the NSW pack alongside Aaron Woods and David Klemmer.
Fifita was a standout in NSW’s game-one win last year, but was well contained in games two and three as Queensland snatched the series.
‘‘He was very good. There was no doubt about that, it was one of the better performances I’ve seen,’’ Fittler said.
‘‘Across the board, games two and three weren’t that great for everyone. No one’s got a position.
‘‘I’ll persuade him to play good for Cronulla. If he does that then he’ll be an option for us.’’