Queensland Rugby League has moved quickly to shut down any hopes NSW have of gaining dispensation to select four-time premiership winner Moses Leota, declaring: “Rules are rules.”
The Maroons also pointed out that NSW were the ones who complained to the NRL about Ronaldo Mulitalo, who was picked by Queensland in 2021, only to be sensationally withdrawn when it ruled he was ineligible.
Penrith and NSW legend Mark Geyer on Thursday told this masthead Leota had spent more than half of his life in western Sydney, was “as Penrith as they come”, and “common sense” needed to prevail when it came to his Origin inclusion.
Under the Origin eligibility rules, players must reside in either state prior to turning 13. Mulitalo was almost 14. Leota arrived in Sydney from Auckland just four months after his 13th birthday.
Sources with knowledge of the situation, but not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed the NRL were prepared to assess any Origin request put forward to them by the state bodies.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the NRL has shown it is prepared to be agile regarding policy change if it is deemed to be in the best interests of the game.
Readers responded in a Herald poll, with more than 75 per cent in favour of the NRL allowing Leota to play for NSW.
While NSW were keeping tight-lipped about Leota on Friday, QRL CEO Ben Ikin made it clear he was not in favour.
Ikin said it had nothing to do with Leota becoming the latest prop to join a stellar line-up of NSW pack options, including Brisbane’s Payne Haas, Cronulla’s Addin Fonua-Blake, Sydney Roosters firebrand Spencer Leniu and incumbent Mitch Barnett.
“I’m struggling to have any empathy for NSWRL or Moses Leota here,” Ikin said.
“Moses simply does not qualify to play State of Origin. The rules are the rules. We need to accept that some players might miss out by a week or a month, which might as well be three years.
“Making small exceptions on the run would be farcical. The first exemption would 13 years and four months, then it would be 13 years and seven months, and so on.
“I understand rugby league is built on drama, but we don’t need this kind of drama.”
Jason Taumalolo arrived in Australia when he was 14 and has already been denied the chance to play for Queensland in the past, while Mulitalo landed in Australia just before his 14th birthday.
The NRL ruled earlier this year that players who had represented New Zealand or England were free to play Origin, provided they had lived in NSW or Queensland before 13.
Melbourne’s Jahrome Hughes arrived in Queensland in his early teens, and while unsure if he was eligible, said: “I’m not going to play Origin. It doesn’t matter if I’m eligible or not. I would only play for a cash grab, and I wouldn’t do that.
“If I put a Queensland jersey on, I just wouldn’t have that same passion as if I put on the Kiwi or Maori jersey, or even a Storm jersey.”
Leota himself told this masthead before flying out for Darwin: “One hundred per cent I’d love to play for NSW, and I’ve been here more than half my life.”
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