By Daniel Lane
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga said he had no problem picking Parramatta's Fijian powerhouse Semi Radradra for the Anzac Test despite the fact the big winger wasn't born in the country and isn't eligible to play in the State of Origin series.
His New Zealand counterpart Stephen Kearney reacted to news of Radradra's selection for next month's Trans Tasman Test in Newcastle by saying aspiring Australian wingers had the right to feel "disappointed" at missing selection and that he'd prefer to see the try-scoring machine represent Fiji.
Fiji's national coach Mick Potter also accused Australia of harming the international game by cherry-picking the Pacific nation's best player, saying Radradra was "more Fijian than Australian" before questioning the eligibility rules.
While Meninga admitted the rules weren't perfect and could be "tweaked", he had no problem in selecting a powerful winger who has scored 53 tries in the 57 matches he's played for the Eels.
!["He admitted he wants to play for Australia and he's passionate about it - I've talked to him - so he gets selected": Mal Meninga on Semi Radradra [pictured].](https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_1%2C$multiply_0.7517%2C$ratio_1.777778%2C$width_1969%2C$x_28%2C$y_220/t_crop_custom/q_62%2Cf_auto/578f1e0b731da04f3813856035f786ba673d411a)
"He admitted he wants to play for Australia and he's passionate about it - I've talked to him - so he gets selected": Mal Meninga on Semi Radradra [pictured].Credit: Getty Images
"It was his choice [to play for Australia] and when we sit around at the selector's table we want to pick our best players," Meninga told Triple M's Grill Team on Wednesday morning.
"The best players should be picked on their merits, regardless of sort of any bias of where they're from or what colour they are, all those sort of things. I think it is important we pick our best players and Semi is the best left wing in the competition at the moment.
"He admitted he wants to play for Australia and he's passionate about it - I've talked to him - so he gets selected."
However, Meninga, who as coach of Queensland masterminded the Maroon's State of Origin dominance, said he wouldn't look as favourably at Radradra being selected for NSW.
"It's a different beast, Origin [to international rugby league]. It is black and white, it has rules that tell you anyone from NSW or Queensland there's five points of criteria and you have to be in that state before the age of 13 - it's black and white - I think how it is at the moment is perfect in Semi's case.
"And what about if someone was picked from Melbourne or someone was born in WA? They still need an opportunity to play representative football and that's what the Australian team provides them ... they can't play Origin but they're still eligible to play for Australia."
Meninga said from 2018 Australia's national team will play after the State of Origin series and NRL competition as part of a concerted push to re-establish the green and gold jumper as the most prestigious honour an Aussie player can receive.
"When the new TV rights come in 2018 that's when it will all change, you'll have your domestic season, you'll have your State of Origin series and then obviously internationals at the back end of the year," he said.
The best players should be picked on their merits, regardless of sort of any bias of where they're from or what colour they are
"Part of that [broadcast] deal [signed] last year was all about trying to reignite the international program and get the players excited about playing for Australia again."
Meninga played a straight bat when asked by the Grill Team's panel whether Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan would be roommates in the lead-up to the Test, citing the pair's infamous demise from Canberra after they posted a selfie of themselves on social media drinking Bacardi Breezers on a Canberra rooftop in 2013.
When he announced the team on Tuesday, Meninga made it clear both men deserved their selection
"They have done it tough, but they come out the other side and they are the better for the experience," he said. "They have been playing good football and that is why they have been selected."