The bulk of the Kiwis side that beat Australia may live across the Ditch, but that’s just the way of the rugby league world.
The bulk of the Kiwis side that beat Australia may live across the Ditch, but that’s just the way of the rugby league world.
The darkest hour is just before the dawn. And when you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. Whatever your cliché of choice denoting dramatic change for the better, feel free to apply it to New Zealand rugby league. A year ago ( Sport, October 21), I observed that league in this country often resembled Wile E Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons: trapped in a cycle of failure and self-inflicted humiliation.
The Warriors had had another woeful year, beginning with the misguided decision to throw a lifeline to troubled star Kieran Foran, who availed himself of it for as long as it took to jack up another gig back in Sydney. The Kiwis had lost four on the trot to the Kangaroos when they were routed in Canberra in May. Two senior players were
“too drunk to remember” why they were in the company of a drug dealer at 5 o’clock the following morning, a novel twist on the concept of the lesser of two evils.
And the Kiwis’ build-up to the World Cup, which New Zealand co-hosted, was thrown into disarray when four players, including superstar Jason Taumalolo, defected to Tonga on the eve of the tournament. The annus horribilis ended on an appropriately horrible note with the Kiwis being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Fiji.
A year on, the gloom has lifted and the league landscape, if not bathed in sunlight, is certainly sun-dappled. The Warriors had a more than decent season, making the play-offs by winning 15 of their 24 games, only one fewer than minor premiers and eventual champions the Sydney Roosters. Captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck became the first Warrior to win the Dally M medal awarded to the NRL player of the year. And last weekend at Mt Smart Stadium, the Kiwis beat Australia for the first time since 2015. (In another welcome turnaround, the following day in Hamilton, the Silver Ferns netballers ended their ninegame losing streak against Australia.)
The only unsightly element in this otherwise pleasing result was the disappointing crowd: fewer than 13,000 compared with the Warriors’ average home gate of 17,470, admittedly a 49% increase on 2017. Outside of World Cups, international league is a hard sell because it clearly sits below the NRL and State of Origin in the pecking order. And the fact that our national side has a distinct Australian tinge perhaps doesn’t help matters.
A significant portion of the team is drawn from the Australian component of the Kiwi diaspora: of the 19 players who took the field last weekend, five – including captain Dallin Watene-Zelezniak – have lived in Australia since childhood. Another 10 moved across the Tasman as teens, either with their families or after being recruited by Australian clubs. Three Kiwis – Kevin Proctor, Jordan Rapana and Martin Taupau – played for Australia at age-group level while Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, who moved to Brisbane in his teens, represented Australia at rugby union’s 2007 under-19 World Cup.
Only two – stand-off Shaun Johnson and wing Ken Maumalo – are
what could be described as fully fledged New Zealand league products in that they came through the local ranks and have spent their professional careers at the Warriors. The two other Warriors – utility back Peta Hiku and forward Adam Blair – have spent the bulk of their senior careers at Australian clubs. Blair could be the prototype of the contemporary Kiwi league player: while at Whangarei Boys’ High, he was recruited by the Melbourne Storm, who initially warehoused him at a Gold Coast feeder club. After 12 years at the Storm, Tigers and Broncos, he joined the swelling ranks of returning expatriates by becoming a Warrior this year.
This isn’t to suggest these players shouldn’t be representing New Zealand. Some may have declined the opportunity to play for Australia at full international level and others probably calculated they were more likely to play international football as a Kiwi than a Kangaroo. It’s just the inevitable consequence of migration patterns and the reality that there are 15 NRL clubs in Australia and one here.
But this haziness around nationality and qualification may have influenced Taumalolo’s decision to declare for Tonga. Born in Auckland, he moved to Townsville aged 14 after being spotted by North Queensland Cowboys’ scouts while on tour with the under-16 Kiwis. There he has remained. Last year, he signed a contract that will keep him in Townsville until 2027. By then, you would think, the Cowboys will not only have taken the boy out of Māngere, they’ll also have taken Māngere out of the boy.
Of the 19 players who took the field last weekend, five have lived in Australia since childhood. Another 10 moved across the Tasman as teens.