League: Vagana has clear vision

Nigel Vagana says selection fiascos diminish the status of test matches. Mark Nolan / Getty Images

Nigel Vagana didn't hold back this week on the sacking of his Cronulla teammate Tevita Latu, who he believed was harshly dealt to by the club and NRL.

And the 32-test Kiwi stalwart and captain in Ruben Wiki's absence was just as forthright on the topic of international league when asked to reflect on the Anzac test defeat.

Vagana, who has played for clubs in New Zealand, Australia and England, lines up against his old Warriors outfit in Sydney tomorrow night.

Having recovered from a left eye injury which caused blurred vision and put him out of Sunday's loss to the Bulldogs, he is back in the Sharks' centres.

Test standoff Vagana has had time to reflect on the hammering the Kiwis took, but it is a bigger issue that really concerns him.

The 31-year-old is seriously questioning whether the Anzac match still qualifies for test status, given that the Kiwis seem unable to pick most of their Europe-based players.

He hopes against hope that administrators can restore lustre to the test arena by sorting the issue out.

The much-respected Vagana told the Herald that the selection fiasco not only takes away the prestige of playing in the Kiwi jersey, but also diminishes the significance of the occasion for the Australians.

It meant the Kiwis always had too many newcomers, or players not fully recovered from injury.

"We played with too much heart instead of our head," said Vagana, who Kiwi coach Brian McClennan sees as a father figure to players in Australia.

"Tommy [Leuluai] getting hurt didn't help our kicking game - we were pretty much left with no one.

"When the Australians struggled they still had kickers who could kick long. With 20 minutes to go, we were all rooted and the floodgates opened.

"But I question whether you can still call the Anzac test a test when half of our team are playing in England and aren't available.

"It might seem good for the Australians because they have been winning it since 1998. But it's not doing the Kiwi jersey justice, or the international game any good."

He could not understand why Australians saw the State of Origin as the pinnacle, but then, the matches were even contests.

"When the competitions have finished and the Kiwi team is picked from around the world, that has true prestige.

"I don't want to get picked mainly because a club wouldn't release a player who was better than me. It takes away from each player ... that you only played because so and so wasn't available.

"The day after the test, the Cronulla boys were asking me, 'Where was Ali Lauitiiti, what about Motu Tony?'

"It suggests to me they believed if those guys had played, the outcome would have been different. It also suggests that Australians are wondering whether it was the real deal, even though they won.

"The Australians are a real test team, and the Kiwis will always be the Kiwis but for me, at this stage, the Anzac test isn't a test."

Vagana said it was hypocritical of Southern Hemisphere league to criticise the northern game for not releasing players, when NRL players were unable to play against Great Britain in St Helen's next month.

"I'd love to play in that game. You only play for a short time and you want to play as many tests as you can. If all countries agreed on making players available, these games would be tests."

Vagana is off-contract at Cronulla this year. After returning from a broken leg suffered in 2005, he has yet to discuss his future there.