The answer to fix the international tier system has left league greats divided, with with the role of Origin as a carrot or a stick confusing the issue.

The rise of Pacific Island nations in recent years has seen several players opt to switch allegiance away from Australia despite playing in the State of Origin arena.

The likes of Jarome Luai and Brian To’o are among those who regularly feature in the Blues jersey but the pair both don the Samoan jersey on the international stage.

READ MORE: Expansion ‘reality’ sets in as Sharks gun weighs up future

READ MORE: ‘Wow’: Storm survive Bunker howler in 64-point epic

READ MORE: Star’s farewell game soured as Carlton struggles continue

Under current eligibility rules players who qualify to play for Tier 1 nations – New Zealand or England – must choose between representing their country or their state.

“How could you stop someone from playing for their country? Seriously,” Brad Fittler said of the current tier system on Nine’s Freddy and the Eighth.

“A lot of these blokes do get a choice to play for Australia. But why wouldn’t you want to play for Australia? It’s the country where you grew up.”

Andrew Johns replied: “They might have a passion for it, representing their heritage.

“Pacific families are usually big and their family is everything. They would be applauded if they played for Tonga or Samoa.”

However, with the likes of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Payne Haas considering a switch of allegiance after initially committing to Australia, Johns questioned what the national team jersey means to players.

“Unfortunately, for the Australian jumper, Origin has become so big that it is the pinnacle of rugby league,” he said in the wake of the Origin stars’ looming decision.

“In years gone by until probably the early ’90s, (representing) Australia was above playing Origin. I think winning a State of Origin series three-nil would be above winning an Ashes series three-nil (to today’s players).

“It may change this year once they’ve gone over there, but what we will have is with these players committing to Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Pacific Island nations, we will have a genuine competition where five or six countries could win a World Cup.

“It is competition and it is rivalry, which makes professional sport.

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now.

“You can’t chop and change,” Johns continued.

“At 16 or 18, whenever you sign a contract, you need to sit down and say this is who I’m committing to for my whole representative career.

“For me, it is one or the other. If you play for Samoa [you don’t represent Australia.]

“Origin doesn’t change. If you are in Australia before high school, you can play Origin but at 18 you sit down and talk to your family and choose who you are going to commit to.”

Phil Gould admitted he could not understand why State of Origin is impacted by international eligibility given it is a completely different game.

“International football is a completely different thing. It should not be affected by our own domestic league,” Gould said of Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus.

“I don’t understand what is so difficult for people to understand about that.

“If they are eligible to play for Pacific Island nations, that is who they should play for if they choose to. We have plenty of players here in Australia that can play for Australia.

“If you qualify to play State of Origin, you should be eligible to play State of Origin. If you come to Australia and you qualify, you play junior football and junior rep football in Australia, why can’t you play senior rep football here in Australia?

“It has no bearing on the international game, there’s no reason for it to have a bearing on the international stage.

“The strength of the Tongan and Samoa team is going to be what sells our game.”

Gould noted that in the past players have been persuaded against switching to Pacific Island teams in favour of developing the strength of the green and gold jersey.

However, he says that practice is not going to benefit the game long term.

“We want as many countries participating and we want them to be as strong as possible,” Gould continued.

“Getting the New Zealand and Pacific teams as strong as possible means they have to play in the NRL competition to learn the game at that level.

“You can put all the academies you like over there [in the Pacific Islands] but you are not going to develop NRL talents anywhere apart from the NRL pathways system.

“We had a situation where Semi Radradra was encouraged not to play for Fiji to wear the green and gold. Why? Because the green and gold wanted to win. They wanted the best player, how childish is that?

“We have plenty of wingers, we don’t need Semi Radradra. He is a great player but he should be playing for Fiji, that is his country.

“If kids from Pacific Islands come here and are born in Australia and sees themselves as Australian with no affinity with his country of heritage and wants to play for Australia, there is nothing wrong with that.

“If you qualify then you go. There is now enough international football to suffice.’

All three greats agreed the growth of Pacific nations will ultimately work in favour of the game, however Fittler called for the upcoming Ashes series to be held at greater importance for those representing Australia.

“I can’t speak on the behalf of anyone else but I only know from my point of view that representing your country is by far the most important thing you can do in the game,” Fittler said.

“If I was a player, I would want to play for Australia. I would hate for our history to stop for the sake of going over to the Pacific Champs, which they can put back for a year.

“From my point of view, I think the players should understand that (the Ashes) is a big part of our history. Going over to England should be the most important thing.

“If we are going to have Kangaroo tours, there needs to be a point of difference as to why players are going to go.

“The one thing I’m disappointed with is that when they are going over they are playing England. In the old days you would go and play Great Britain.

“I think it should be the same, so everyone from Australia who can play for Australia should be part of the selection choice.”