‘NRL diplomacy’ a strategic winner with Pacific Islands nations

Anthony Albanese says he wants a State of Origin game played in the Pacific Islands and signalled a desire to see the region field a team in the NRL.

Anthony Albanese and other Pacific leaders watch the State of Origin on Wednesday night. Picture: Facebook

Anthony Albanese says he wants a State of Origin game played in the Pacific Islands and signalled a desire to see the region field a team in the NRL.

The Prime Minister – a lifelong fan of the South Sydney Rabbitohs – said it would be good if rugby league could be used to improve Australia’s standing in the Pacific Islands.

During his visit to Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum, Mr Albanese watched Wednesday’s State of Origin rugby league match with Pacific leaders, which he called “NRL diplomacy”.

When asked if it was time for an Origin match to be played in the Pacific, Mr Albanese said that would be “a very welcome initiative” and revealed he’d “had discussions with the NRL very directly”. “It is a passionate sport here. It’s the No 1 sport … and it would be a great thing for such an event to occur,” he said on Thursday.

Mr Albanese said it would be “a good thing” to give consideration about how to get a Pacific NRL team with connections to Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Samoa.

“In terms of engagement and people-to-people relations, these things are important,” he said. “The event last night … was attended by eight heads of countries. If you think about events in which you get prime ministers and presidents of eight countries to come to an event with Australia, that’s a good thing.”