Hugh McGahan: It is a privilege to have Fien's allegiance

Whether Nathan Fien is born in this country or not is irrelevant. The fact he qualifies for the Kiwis through his grandmother gives him more right to play than Brent Webb, who qualified only through residency. There is actually lineage which ties Fien to the jersey.

The Australian Rugby League is crying foul but conveniently forgets Lote Tuqiri, with no ancestral link to Australia, was able to represent Queensland and Australia after playing for Fiji in the rugby league World Cup. Adrian Lam was Papua New Guinea captain before playing for Australia.

The Australians should be the last to complain how New Zealand selects its players, especially after some Australian born and bred players represented another country at a World Cup and then donned Australian colours a couple of years later. Tonie Carroll played for New Zealand when his selection in the Kangaroos for the World Cup was doubtful but when Wayne Bennett was later made Australian coach, he again jumped ship and returned to the green and gold.

Let us welcome Fien into the fold as we did with Brent Webb and hope he assists us in again lifting the Tri Nations trophy this year. But a warning to Nathan - the Australians will be targeting you and will try to exact some type of revenge for Karmichael Hunt. Remember the tackle on him by Frank Pritchard in this year's Anzac test? What a stunner it was and believe me, the Aussies want to do the same to you.

Many are questioning the criteria for qualification but who really cares if it gives us what we want? No one complains about Irene Van Dyke wearing the Silver Fern or the All Blacks born outside New Zealand.

Over the years, we've had sports people who played for this country after representing another, such as squash players Carol Owens and Kashif Shuja, originally from Australia and Pakistan respectively. Former World No 1 Owens and world-ranked Shuja have both represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games.

We should feel privileged players with this experience want to give something precious to this country - their allegiance. How special are we that an individual wants to offer himself to our team? Let's accept his offer with open arms, just as we did nearly 100 years ago when the great Dally Messenger played for New Zealand on our first UK tour.

Let us not forget the New Zealand Rugby League has again asked another great Australian, Andrew Johns, to join our team on its tour next year to commemorate that special occasion a century ago. Will we be complaining then?