Rugby league opens door to great-grandparent eligibility to unlock new talent

Cook Isalnd men's rugby league team coach Karmichael Hunt might have had a thing or two to do with new eligibility rules approved by the International Rugby League (IRL) for Test matches.

IRL Chair Troy Grant announced this week that eligibility would now be extended to great-grandparents.

Hunt had made his call following the Cook Islands Atiu's last pool game against Australian Kangaroos at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.

"There's a lot of great grandparents that have Cook Islands kids playing in good systems in Queensland and New South Wales, and would love to get access to those," Hunt said post-match when he was asked by the media.

"All I know is that the eligibility rule is you need to have a grandparent or a parent born in the Cook Islands or any nation for that matter to be eligible to play for us.

"Now, it's different for other nations as well. So obviously, you can live in Australia and be a resident, and you can be eligible to play for Aussie or New Zealand, but no one's going back to the Cooks to live because our careers they're all in Australia, New Zealand.

"We're one of the smaller nations in the competition, if not the smallest. So we're feeling the pinch a whole lot earlier. But you know, at some point down the track, when you look at [Samoa's Jarome] Luai's kids they might not be eligible if the rules stays the same, because they're born in Australia and their parents were born in New Zealand and Australia."

"I think it's something to address. Look, whether your great grandparents born there, whether you're 10 percent Cook Islander, if you want to identify and represent your Cook Islands heritage, and you've got that in your blood, I think you should have the right to do that."

The IRL's decision comes after their weekend meeting in Sydney.

It would give the Cook Islands, for instance, who have a small population of less than 20,000, the chance to use their players whose great grandparents had blood ties to the island nation.

"We have players sitting on the sidelines who the public deserves to see showing their skills on the international stage," Grant said.

"We live in a multicultural world and particularly here in Australia we do have multiple heritage connections. My own children, if they were to play at the elite level, qualify for three nations.

"I think it enhances rather than undermines the game in the future. It will still require an evidentiary process for proving that status but we are of the firm belief this elevates nations in accessing players and deepens the depth of the player pool.

"It will also lift the competitiveness of matches across nations."

He said the new ruling would start immediately so it would be in place for all international matches in 2027.

The IRL also agreed that they would promote Samoa and Tonga to Tier 1 status, with discussions to be held with both national federations.

"We just want to go through a consultation process to make sure there's no unintended consequences from the decision, so everyone clearly understands what elevation to Tier 1 means," Grant said.

"From us as an IRL Board this elevation is an acknowledgement of their (Tonga, Samoa) amazing contribution to international rugby league essentially over the last decade.

"They are no doubt, as you've seen yourself, at the same level as Australia, New Zealand and England. Their performances in this World Cup, previous ones and the Pacific Championships is top-shelf and they deserved to be recognised as Tier 1 for the efforts on the field.

"This is to show them the respect they deserve … they have lit up international rugby league like we've never seen before. We're enormously grateful for that and this is a thing that we believe is potentially overdue but well deserved."

The IRL said Samoa became the first Pacific nation to play in a World Cup final in 2022, while Tonga are the only Tier 2 nation to have defeated Australia, England and New Zealand.

Grant said there had been vast improvements in the governance and standard of the domestic game in both Tonga and Samoa and he added "many other nations" are seeking to lift their standards for Tier 1 consideration in the future.

Grant said the current rules forced a lot of players with dual eligibility to choose and in some cases it was a hard choice.

"We will be building in and articulating an amnesty period so players will be able to make a decision of which nation they wish to represent," Grant said.

"But they will not be able to swap back and forth from year to year - I don't think that's necessarily healthy for the game.

"There is the ability under exceptional circumstances to make applications to switch."

Hunt's call

Meanwhile, Hunt, who had stints in Australian Rules (AFL), the National Rugby League and Super Rugby, had called for broader eligibility, adding that the current rules do not allow some of their best players playing in Australia and New Zealand from representing the Cook Islands.

He pointed to Canberra fullback Kaeo Weekes as an example of a player who has Kuki heritage but can not play because the rules does not allow for grandparents to be counted.

"We all live in Australia or New Zealand," Hunt said.

"From all reports (Canberra fullback) Kaeo Weekes has grandparents that are Kukis or he has Cook Islands heritage.

"He is sitting on the couch watching the tournament right now. We want our best players playing in this competition."

Hunt said countries like the Cook Islands, Lebanon and France, deserved to have a review of eligibility rules.

Both Lebanon and France also have a lot of players with ties to them playing in the NRL and Super League.

"You know, to play international football against the Kangaroos and the Kiwis, even Fiji for that matter, we need our boys, you know, more boys available to us that are at the higher levels, and that's going to come down to the eligibility rule," he said back two weeks ago.

"Hopefully, they address that. Look, we're only 15,000 of us on the islands currently, as the rule stands, your grandparents or your parents has to be born back there.

"Look, every nation is probably in a different position. Resources is a big thing for us, we didn't have a camp coming into this World Cup, so there was a lot of new combinations that, for the first time on the training track six days out, from Fiji.

"We've progressively gotten better, and that's what's happened over the last couple of years at the Pac Champs. But you know, if we can sort of get a bit more access to to players, to resources, I think that will put us in a better position moving forward."

2030 format

Meanwhile, the IRL has also confirmed that the 2030 RLWC men's and women's tournaments will adopt a Magic Round format and be staged in cities across the Pacific and United States with more teams to be involved.

Grant said RLWC30 is set to again feature men's, women's and Wheelchair World Cups being played concurrently, with the men's and women's tournaments to be held together.

France is the favourites to host the Wheelchair tournament.

Grant said the 2030 men's and women's tournaments will be staged by the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC), who he said have conducted the most successful World Cup since the concept began in 1954.

Record crowds and television ratings for international rugby league were recorded in matches across Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand and Grant said the the IRL Board wanted to maximise the interest of broadcasters, fans and government and corporate partners.

"The ARLC have agreed to be the organisers, with the IRL, of RLWC30," Grant said.

"They will be our tournament partners, and I would like to thank ARLC Executive chairman Peter V'landys for his vision and support to grow international rugby league and ensure the Rugby League World Cup is the pinnacle of our game.

"RLWC26 has been a massive success by every possible metric - both on and off the field - and the ARLC has the capacity and ability to help build the World Cup into a truly global event.

"The World Cup under its current format runs for five weeks and RLWC30 is going to be run in five locations across the Pacific and USA. We haven't decided where yet; we are going to market and will look at the strategic placement of which cities we go to."

The IRL Board has also decided to increase the number of participating nations to 12 men's teams and 10 women's teams for the next RLWC.