Cronulla young gun Ronaldo Mulitalo says he unfairly wore the brunt of the blame for last year’s State of Origin eligibility fiasco.
The Sharks winger was picked to make his Origin debut in game two of the 2021 series, and was jettisoned into the Queensland camp to much fanfare.
But there was chaos in the days leading up to the game when NSW Rugby League alerted the NRL to a rumour doing the rounds on social media that Mulitalo was not eligible to play for either state due to an update in the rules.
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Mulitalo moved from New Zealand to Australia when he was 14 years old. Under the latest Origin eligibility rules, a player must have lived in either state before they turned 13 – if they were not born in Queensland or NSW, or had a father who played in Origin.
Phil Gould labelled the entire saga “disgraceful”.
Mulitalo feels the Maroons and NRL didn’t accept responsibility for the error, even though he had been allowed to previously represent Queensland at junior Origin level.
“If they’re (QRL) calling me and they’re telling me, then I think ‘well I must be eligible’,” he told Fox Sports.
“It’s weird, they tried to put the blame on me. You pick up on every other discrepancy but this one.
“Out of all of the paperwork that gets thrown around, for some reason that wasn’t flagged earlier.
“But I think there’s no point in banging on about it, it just becomes a broken record. At least now I’ve got some clarity, it’s one way now and that’s it.”
Mulitalo is now hoping to represent New Zealand at this year’s World Cup.
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