{"id":421713,"date":"2024-09-12T23:48:16","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T23:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=421713"},"modified":"2024-09-13T01:07:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T01:07:47","slug":"sharks-star-reflects-on-ugly-origin-eligibility-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=421713","title":{"rendered":"Sharks star reflects on 'ugly' Origin eligibility saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sharks<\/a> winger Ronaldo Mulitalo<\/a> has opened up on the State of Origin<\/a> eligibility saga that has overshadowed his representative career.<\/p>\n

During the 2021 series, \ufeffMulitalo was selected to make his Origin debut for the Maroons<\/a> in game two.<\/p>\n

The talented speedster, then 21, had been parachuted into the Queensland camp after replacing Xavier Coates in the side.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE:<\/strong> Awkward stand-off as $908m star refuses to pay fines<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ronaldo<\/p>\n

But in the days leading up to the game, NSW Rugby League lodged a formal complaint about Mulitalo's inclusion in the Queensland side, questioning whether he was eligible to represent the state.<\/p>\n

Mulitalo grew up in South Auckland before moving with his family to Queensland when he was 14.<\/p>\n

Under the current eligibility rules, to qualify to play Origin a player must have lived in either state before they turned 13 if they were not born there or had a father who played Origin.<\/p>\n

After an investigation, Mulitalo \ufeffwas ruled ineligible to play Origin<\/a> on the day of game two.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine's \ufeffMarlee & Me<\/em><\/a> podcast, in an episode that will drop on Monday September 16, Mulitalo shared how he looks back on the controversy.<\/p>\n

"The boys still give me stick about it a little bit, which is good\ufeff. You've got to laugh about it now," he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"\ufeffNot many people can say they got bounced from Origin on the day of.<\/p>\n

"I've still got the jersey too\ufeff. I've got a bit of history hanging up in my closet."<\/p>\n

Mulitalo still feels that the NRL<\/a> and the Maroons failed to accept responsibility for the error given he had been permitted to represent Queensland at the junior Origin level.<\/p>\n

Through another pathway to the top side, \ufeffonce a player has played Origin at under-18 or under-20 level, their state of eligibility is confirmed. However, this did not apply to Mulitalo.<\/p>\n

He was scarred by the experience, believing that the \ufeffNRL and the Maroons' narrative was then peddled by the media.<\/p>\n

"The worst thing about the Origin saga was\ufeff, I don't know who it was \u2014 one of the reporters \u2014 he went in and said I was a liar and said I lied on my forms," he said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWhen the forms went out, I went to my club and I said, 'Never did I ever lie on those forms. Go and check the forms properly and bring them out'.<\/p>\n

"We checked all the forms and \ufeffI said, 'Look, I answered it all correctly the whole way through. Youse picked me [at U20 level] so that made me eligible, so I picked yes on the eligibility form the next year'."<\/p>\n

\"Ronaldo<\/p>\n

Mulitalo said he was "filthy" and it was "burning" him that they "portrayed me as a liar to save their own arses".<\/p>\n

"Then my family just wanted to turn around and say, 'Wait, before you start running your mouth' And that's when it started getting a bit ugly," he said.<\/p>\n

"The media portrayed their paperwork, and they only showed like this little bit and \ufeffdangled the carrot like, 'Oh, look at him. He's a liar'. And I was just like, 'You missed the whole beginning of it'.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"That was the hardest one to let go."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/marlee-and-me\/jordan-riki\/embed?in_playlist=podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

Following his \ufeffaxing, Mulitalo returned to the Sharks to be with his teammates.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThe club was like, 'Do you want to go home and spend time with your family and be away from the game?' and I said, 'That would make it worse, I need to be around my teammates'," Mulitalo said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThat's where I draw energy from, I draw it from them and they draw it from me.<\/p>\n

"Anytime it's gotten hard for me, anytime I've struggled with footy stuff, the club knows that I just need to be around my teammates."<\/p>\n

\"Ronaldo<\/p>\n

He said he didn't need anyone to "pamper" him.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"The club was \ufeffgood, they said, 'Look, its happened. Whatever.' None of my teammates asked me what happened. They just got on with life like usual," he said.<\/p>\n

"And that's the thing about footy, it keeps ticking along. A new week, a new problem that you've got to solve, right.<\/p>\n

"For me, I was just really happy that I could get back into the [Sharks] system straight away\ufeff."<\/p>\n

Mulitalo has since gone on to represent New Zealand eight times on the international stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo has opened up on the State of Origin eligibility saga that has overshadowed his representative career. During the 2021 series, \ufeffMulitalo […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":421715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=421713"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":421723,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421713\/revisions\/421723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/421715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=421713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=421713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=421713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}