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Sean Fagan - RL1908.com

Once in a generation, maybe longer, a player rises in his/her chosen sport and changes the landscape. They excel so far, that they challenge many of the existing conceptions of their sport.

Sonny Bill Williams is claimed by many to be the best rugby league player for his age ever to play club and Test football. Whether his eventual biography will record Williams as all-time great, only the future can say. No one would bet against it though.

His short career so far has already impacted on many aspects of rugby league. The two most obvious are his inability to play State of Origin (having played for the New Zealand Kiwis) and the inadequacy of the salary cap system to accommodate the line of sponsors and advertisers that will want his services.

The salary cap can't cope with sporting superstars that walk a stage wider than just the NRL competition. The fact that he is a Kiwi Test player adds to the many questions that his rise to the top of sport in Australia and New Zealand will bring.

State of Origin, where supposedly our best players are on show, has qualification rules that exclude players from New Zealand (even though that country has a club in the NRL).

Many qualify for NSW as they are brought across the Tasman to Sydney clubs and become their juniors. The attraction to play Origin, once qualified, is enough for many New Zealanders to forgo the chance at a Kiwi Test jersey.

The problem this presents, as would a rule allowing players to represent NSW and New Zealand, is what does it do for Queensland?

Adding a pool of talent to NSW, who already have far more NRL players to choose from than Queensland, would shift the balance too far in favour of NSW.

Mind you, those that argue that New Zealanders such as Williams should be excluded from Origin on the grounds that it is 'Test-trial' for Kangaroo selection are kidding themselves.

Are the two best half-backs on show in an Origin match? Are the two best fullbacks? Of course not - we see the best available NSW players, and the best available Queensland players. Australia no longer plays at the end of an Origin series anyway, so how relevant is Origin to Test selections?

If the Kangaroos were selected from the 34 Origin players there would be some support for this line-of-thinking, but it doesn't happen - many Queenslanders are overlooked in favour of the second or third-ranked NSW player. Don't forget, the Tri-Series team is also chosen more than two months after Origin.

I'm all for allowing players like Williams to represent NSW if they meet the qualification (irrespective of what country they play for), but not unless something is done to boost Queensland.

Sure, in the same situation, Karmichael Hunt has chosen the Maroons over the Kiwis, but there are far fewer 'Kiwi' players on the northern side of the border.

Many alternatives can be put forward as to what rule changes to make for Origin qualification. Even the situation with Glenn Morrison raises questions. He left the North Queensland Cowboys to return to Sydney in the hope of being seen enough to grab a NSW jersey. If he was a Queenslander, he would have played Origin.

A footballer can move to Queensland as 20-year-old, love the place enough that he spends the rest of his life in the northern state - is there a point in his playing days where he becomes a Queenslander? He votes in Queensland elections, marries a local girl, and his children are Queenslanders.

Should Origin include a residential-qualification period, say, as with Test football, of three years? Would that help Queensland NRL clubs (I'm thinking of the Cowboys and any new club) attract players?

My view is that the answer to this issue is to put international qualifications aside for Origin football. Players should be able to also qualify on a residential rule for Origin - so Adrian Morley could now play for NSW, but also for Great Britain. Similarly, Glenn Morrison could have stayed with the Cowboys and played for Queensland. However, once a player has represented a state he should never be allowed to change allegiances.

The only real problem with this idea is that the New Zealand Warriors (in particular) and Melbourne Storm would be the big losers - players would move to either NSW or Queensland clubs in the hope of residentially qualifying for Origin.

While many Storm players would still qualify under a continuation of the current Origin rule, New Zealand raised and based players would have no chance. They would be left out unless they moved to NSW or Queensland.

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