Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sat Jun 22, 2019 8:32 pm  

How embarrassing that there more Tonga fans than New Zealand fans. Does anyone actually care about RL in New Zealand anymore? Give their place in the NRL to Perth

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sat Jun 22, 2019 8:37 pm  

Psychedelic Casual wrote:

Yet they’re all ethnically Tongan and proud of it!

In fact, ethnically, New Zealand must have the fewest ethnically local people playing for them than any other nation as most of them are Tongan or Samoan or European.

What has the make up of the NZ population or team got to do with anything. The tongan side have 2 tongan born players..... Thats as farcical as a Dublin born cricketer captaining england.......but the tonga are great for international stampede is farcical....... Wait until they play away from south auckland,......

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sat Jun 22, 2019 9:09 pm  

Superted wrote:

Surely the success of the international game is about having more competitive nations, not just about winning every game? Tonga are super competitive and would IMO beat England at the moment, even with their current half backs. Getting beaten by NZ is hardly embarassing or bubble bursting.

As for where their players are born, that's irrelevant in today's world, and even more irrelevant to those with Pacific island heritage, where mass migration has been common for decades. Why is it such an issue?

They wouldn’t get anywhere near beating England there a one season wonder the hunt for that fourth competitive team goes on

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sat Jun 22, 2019 9:59 pm  

Ruune Rebellion wrote:

Does anyone actually care about RL in New Zealand anymore?

More than give it a second thought in the Gold Coast, Cronulla, Illawarra, Penrith, Townsville, Canberra, Manly, South Sydney and West Sydney if their average attendance figures are anything to go by....even more so given that 5 of those teams sit above them on the ladder.
Rugby League is the 2nd code in NZ and therefore will struggle for attention, but there are a great many number of fans who watch all sports.....

It could very well be that there's a very good argument from taking one of the Sydney sides to Perth...Cronulla average just 12k.......and they were champions only 2 seasons ago....shocking gates for a champion side!

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:55 am  

fun time frankie wrote:

They wouldn’t get anywhere near beating England there a one season wonder the hunt for that fourth competitive team goes on

The tide is coming in for Pacific Island RL.
20 years ago it was rare to see more than 2 or 3 Islander players in elite level junior sides. Now it's rare to see more than 2 or 3 anglo players in the western Sydney based teams.
Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, PNG and even Cook Islands get more and more players to pick from every year.
They'll have good years and bad years, but the trajectory for them is year on year improvement for the next 10 years at least.
"One season wonders" is so not what is happening here.

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sun Jun 23, 2019 5:51 am  

roopy wrote:

"One season wonders" is so not what is happening here.

Beg to differ here...... Plenty of players not good enough for NZ/AU putting their hands up fir the country their granny was born in isnt development..... Its just adding teams with players not giod enough for the top sides.....


The searchbfor a 4th nation continues.........not a side full of heritage players

[PopTart]

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sun Jun 23, 2019 6:55 am  

Call Me God wrote:

Beg to differ here...... Plenty of players not good enough for NZ/AU putting their hands up fir the country their granny was born in isnt development..... Its just adding teams with players not giod enough for the top sides.....


The searchbfor a 4th nation continues.........not a side full of heritage players

One game.
There'll be other games. Some wins some not.

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sun Jun 23, 2019 7:43 am  

Call Me God wrote:

What has the make up of the NZ population or team got to do with anything. The tongan side have 2 tongan born players..... Thats as farcical as a Dublin born cricketer captaining england.......but the tonga are great for international stampede is farcical....... Wait until they play away from south auckland,......

The location of the hospital bed where you popped out of your Mother’s vagina isn’t that important. Your family history (heritage) and ethnicity and what you identify yourself as, is. If you are Tongan by heritage, ethnicity and identity, then you are Tongan. Even if you were born and live in New Zealand.

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sun Jun 23, 2019 7:44 am  

roopy wrote:

The tide is coming in for Pacific Island RL.
20 years ago it was rare to see more than 2 or 3 Islander players in elite level junior sides. Now it's rare to see more than 2 or 3 anglo players in the western Sydney based teams.
Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, PNG and even Cook Islands get more and more players to pick from every year.
They'll have good years and bad years, but the trajectory for them is year on year improvement for the next 10 years at least.
"One season wonders" is so not what is happening here.

It would be different if these players stuck with there countries but they don’t the best ones will always play for Australia or New Zealand until there seemed not good enough and then they go back to badge kissing there long lost country first we had Samoa as the next big thing then Fiji and now Tonga I wish these countries would make it but sadly they won’t and a question for you roopy what’s gone wrong at the PNG hunters

Re: Pop........ The Tongan bubble is done. : Sun Jun 23, 2019 1:54 pm  

fun time frankie wrote:

It would be different if these players stuck with there countries but they don’t the best ones will always play for Australia or New Zealand until there seemed not good enough and then they go back to badge kissing there long lost country first we had Samoa as the next big thing then Fiji and now Tonga I wish these countries would make it but sadly they won’t and a question for you roopy what’s gone wrong at the PNG hunters

Nothing has gone wrong at the PNG Hunters.
From day one they have been happy to release any player who gets an offer from an NRL, ESL or Qld cup side, and as they have trained up players, they have lost good players by the dozens.
Only 5 current PNG Hunters played for PNG yesterday - the rest were contracted to NRL or Qld cup sides, and if they had been able to fly in ESL players, there's a fair chance it would have been about 2 Hunters in the side.
That is success. They are getting guys up to a standard where rich clubs offer them good money, and off they go to improve themselves.
The current Hunters side is basically stacked full of kids who are training fulltime and trying to get a contract somewhere else.