League: Polynesian power in demand in Australia

The number of New Zealand-linked players in Australian league competitions has exploded as clubs seek Polynesian power.

The spread and depth in numbers of young players who may graduate to representative level is good for the Kiwis.

But the dearth of numbers in the key positions of hooker, halfback, five-eighth and fullback shows little sign of improvement.

Excluding the Warriors, 40 players of New Zealand background are now playing in the top 26-man squads in NRL clubs. But in the under-20s Jersey Flegg competition there are 600 registered players, and 100 of them have a background in New Zealand or family links.

In the under-16s S.G. Ball and under-18s Harold Matthews competitions in Sydney, 651 players are registered, of whom 127 have New Zealand links. And many of the 66 of Samoan background and the 41 of Tongan heritage may also have been born here, or their parents were.

It's an opportunity the New Zealand Rugby League is keen to mine.

In future there will be greater contact with players who leave for Australia so they maintain their allegiance to this country rather than go the path Karmichael Hunt did in electing to make himself available for State of Origin. Hunt might have played international football by now, but instead is around fourth choice for Queensland.

So far this season 140 players have sought release from the NZRL to play in Australia. Some go of their own accord to try their luck, some have promises from talent scouts, some have offers from lower-grade clubs affiliated to NRL sides. Few have contracts guaranteeing wages.

But increasingly the NRL clubs are realising that the teenage talent they identify here, particularly the Polynesian boys, need family support and more development at home before they step into the big city.

The Roosters, Eels, Penrith and Bulldogs are among clubs that have players in the under-16s and under-18s National Junior Competition in New Zealand who will go to Bartercard Cup before shifting to Sydney.

The realignment of our age-group competitions with theirs, the NJC now mirroring the Ball and Matthews competitions, was former Kiwis coach Daniel Anderson's idea.

It appears to be working in throwing up promising juniors. In Wellington, NZRL development officer Paul Bergman has gone a step further as coach of those two teams and the Bartercard side. The elite players of all ages train together at times and the teenagers thus know exactly what is expected of them.

NRL interest would appear to suggest the scheme is working, with Bergman's youthful halves from last year all poached.

"The NJC gives them some idea of coping with sustained pressure," said Anderson, who recognises there is a problem throughout New Zealand league with "clocking off", at all levels to the Kiwis.

It's partly as a result of Polynesian power, he feels. Some players are so good they do not have to play for 80 minutes. When they drop the ball they just wait for it to be given back from the kick or by an opposition mistake; in part it's a rugby attitude, he says, which does not exist in Australia. In the NRL and at test level, where possession has to be respected, that attitude is fatal.

It's borne out by the early game of Ali Lauitiiti, who was continually penalised for bad play-the-balls when he first came into the NRL. Coach at the time Mark Graham pointed out that Lauitiiti was so good he hardly ever played the ball; when he got it, he usually scored.

There's a feeling in the league establishment here that the power game has stifled the development of smart ball-playing hookers and halves as well as taking the edge off the drive for a long field-kicking game.

There are few number ones, sixes, sevens and nines among all those players drafted to Aussie clubs. The bulk are second-rowers and centres, with some props and big wingers.

Halves and hookers among the recent departures include Wellingtonians Marvin Karawana and John Te Reo who are at the Bulldogs and Brisbane respectively, Aucklanders Greg Eastwood and Isaac Luke at the same clubs respectively, Matthew Parata who has gone to Keebra Park High where Benji Marshall was nurtured for Wests Tigers, David Faiumu who is at the Cowboys, Shaun Kenny Dowel from Waikato who went to the Roosters, John Tavinor (Northland) is at Parramatta. Matthew Wade (Waikato) is signed to the Eels but playing here.

Anderson set in place a plan for the NZRL to run position-specific elite camps: Halfbacks called together for a day, or field kickers, with input from experts. He wants Daryl Halligan further involved in teaching goal-kicking, as he is contracted to do for various NRL clubs.

"Players here are good at little attacking kicks but they have no length - there's a big gap to the [Braith] Anastas, the [Brad] Fittlers and the [Brett] Kimmorleys who kick long and high. The halves have to develop more. Because of the power game they don't need to do too much. But the half has to go to the line, to create more. Here [in New Zealand], they don't develop vision as they grow up in the way they do in Australia."

The Australian clubs wanted to get the punch that had benefited the Warriors and Kiwis and teams like Penrith, with Kiwis backrowers Frank Pritchard, Joe Galuvao and Tony Puletua. But they are also developing halves with vision and kicking skills.

The NZRL is getting a win financially from the exodus of players. Clubs must pay development fees, some up front and a second payment when a player takes the field: A Bartercard player commands A$3500 ($3732) up front, A$7000 in total; a provincial representative or NJC player A$2000/A$5000; a Junior Kiwi A$2000/A$5000 if aged 16 and A$7500/A$15,000 over 16. More than A$100,000 has been banked this season so far.

THE MELTING POT
Ethnic origin of players in the S.G. Ball (under-16) and Harold Matthews (under-18) elite age-group competitions in Sydney

651 players registered:
New Zealand 127
Samoa 66
Tonga 41
Lebanon 36
Italy 27
Aboriginal 22
Cook Islands 13
Fiji 13
China 5
Croatia 5
Malta 5
India 2
Sri Lanka 1
Cambodia 1


Jersey Flegg (under-20s)
600 players registered:
100 have New Zealand links