Papalii pledges allegiance to Australia and Queensland

by NRL

forward Josh Papalii has clarified his position in regards to future representative honours, by nominating Australia as his choice of representative nation, making him eligible to play for Queensland and Australia from 2013.

Papalii made his decision based on where he felt he had the most allegiance to in regards to his football career, after playing all of his junior football in Queensland.
Arriving in Australia in aged 6, Papalii played all of his junior Rugby League from under 7's for the Logan Brothers and Souths Logan clubs in Brisbane, before moving to Canberra in 2010 to play SG Ball for the Canberra Raiders.

In 2009 Papalii represented Queensland at under 18 level and has also represented Queensland as a schoolboy.

Papalii did represent the junior Kiwis in 2011 and had previously declared an intention to play for New Zealand at test level, however he has decided to pledge his allegiance to Australia, the Country he has spent most of his life and played his entire rugby league career.

The decision for Papalii was a tough one and he said the advice from his family had helped him come to his decision.

"Family is very important for me and my family has helped me over the past few days to make the decision to make myself available for Australia and Queensland," Papalii said. "I've lived most of my life in Queensland and played all of my junior football in Australia and if I ever get the chance to play for the Maroons or Kangaroos I would be very proud.

"I played for the junior Kiwis last year and feel very humbled to have the chance to play for them, but in the end I knew in my heart that I want to play for where I grew up and have had so many wonderful memories."

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