KEY POINTS:
Don't expect to see Brent Webb running out at fullback for the under-strength Kiwis when they take on the super-strong Aussies in Sydney on Friday week despite his being named in the squad of 19 yesterday.
The Kiwis' selectors and the board of the New Zealand Rugby League
are kidding themselves if they think the English-based clubs will ever release players like Webb mid-season while there is absolutely no pressure to do so.
The crux of the matter is the Rugby League International Federation may well have a rule stating that players must be released five days before a test or otherwise stood down for five days before and five days after it, but there is absolutely no mention of penalty.
It is ridiculous to even consider that Gary Hetherington, who owns Leeds, is going to agree to let Webb fly Downunder.
Why should he? He pays 90 per cent of Webb's wages. The fullback might get injured in the tough international.
And perhaps he'd be jaded by the travel when he next plays for Leeds.
And don't bother mentioning Leeds coach Bluey McClennan, who this time last year was Kiwis' coach and demanding release of English-based players. He'll have no say.
The NZRL selectors are playing a game by listing Webb in their 19. By naming Webb they hope to force the issue to get the RLIF to compel Leeds to release their fullback.
"It allows us to get on formally communicating with the clubs," said NZRL manager Peter Cordtz. "In the past there was a tendency to negotiate, then not name people. This time there was a determination to name players and go from there."
The NZRL wrote to the ERL last week to put it on notice that it hoped for support in enforcing the release rule. The ERL might well write to Leeds asking them to behave and release Webb.
But it can't wield even a wet bus ticket, so any request will be ignored, if not laughed at.
It's no use bleating about the pride of playing for your country, enhancing international competition and so on when there are no widely respected rules and absolutely no means of enforcing what rules there are.
Soccer has an international window and Fifa requires players to be made available for their countries; basketball is similar when the world champs and Olympics roll around.
The RLIF, however, is basically ruled by the clubs because it is the clubs that hold the purse-strings, totally.
The ERL relies on funding from Super League. The Australian Rugby League is shackled to what the NRL wants and for NRL read News Ltd, who are 50 per cent shareholders,and thus to Fox Sports and Channel Nine.
We should not agree to play the Anzac tests - what former Kiwis' coach Daniel Anderson called the "mid-season beat-up", unless we can get our best team on the paddock.
This is the last scheduled Anzac test. The Aussies want discussions on more.
Cordtz said it would always be in the NZRL's interests to keep an open mind on it because of the financial stakes.
How much bigger could the take be if the Kiwis were competitive - winners even?
So it's in their best interests to back the NZRL's case for enforcement of the rule when the RLIF board meets in Sydney next week. Clubs will always hold major sway though.
