Still Paying The Price

The time has come

To say fair's fair

To pay the rent

To pay our share

The time has come

A fact's a fact

It belongs to them

Let's give it back

While the topic of rugby league is a trivial one in comparison to the true subject of Midnight Oil’s 1988 hit ‘Beds Are Burning’ – a plea for the land rights of aboriginal Australians – the lyrics seem appropriate for the plight of one player in his bid to represent his country.

That player is Warriors captain and Queensland prop Steve Price.

The last time the former Kangaroo played for Australia was on the 26th of November, 2005, in the Tri-Nations final. On that cold winter night in Leeds, the heavily favoured Australians had no answers for a fired up Kiwi team who played with an immense amount of passion. The New Zealanders kept their opponents scoreless for the first time in twenty years, running out victors with a 24-0 score line.

It was this loss which saw Price’s international career come to a grinding halt. This wasn’t because he performed poorly in the final, but because Jones – who only came out of international retirement after being persuaded to by Price – played extremely well, setting up three of the Kiwi side’s tries.

The Australian selectors, it seems, still haven’t forgiven Price for his apparently inexcusable indiscretion.

Rugby league and politics have never been far from each other, which isn’t entirely surprising considering the sport was born through a rebellion from the English Rugby Football Union in 1895, which itself had broken away from soccer in 1823.

But the continued omission of Steve Price from the Kangaroos side is beginning to look like the narrow minded approach of bitter selectors. One would think that a selector’s job is to choose the best players available based on their on field form, but this doesn’t seem to be the case where the Australians are concerned.No forward gained more meters each game in 2006 than Price, who averaged 155 metres per match, ranking fifth highest among all players. After fourteen rounds and eleven appearances in 2007, he has increased that average to 185.5 metres per match.

But perhaps the most impressive thing about Price is the way he has performed during and directly after State Of Origin matches. In the first State Of Origin match of 2007, he gained 195 metres, while making twenty-five tackles with no misses, three offloads, a line break, a charge down, and not a single error. Not bad for a player who at thirty-three years old is fourteen years older than the youngest player on the field, New South Wales winger Jarryd Hayne. Only five days later, he gained 130 metres for the Warriors against a dominant Bulldogs side.

The same thing happened three weeks later. After making 135 metres, thirty-five tackles without missing any, and two offloads in Queensland’s 10-6 series deciding victory over New South Wales, Price gained an incredible 306 metres and three offloads against the Sharks, just three days following the mid-week representative match. That Round 14 tally against the Sharks is a record for the most metres by a forward in the history of the National Rugby League. His effort against the Cowboys in Round 5, totalling 272 metres, ranks second.

It may seem strange for a passionate and patriotic New Zealander to be calling for the Kangaroos to select the form prop of the toughest competition in the world, but if the sport is to consistently succeed at the highest level, the best players have to be selected, not on reputation, but on form. Too often, personalities get in the way, or a club refuses to release a selected player to further their own domestic endeavours.

When Price was urging Jones to come out of international retirement, then Kangaroos coach Wayne Bennett asked him why he was doing it. Price’s answer was simple: “For the good of the game.” Indeed, with the World Cup approaching in 2008, it must surely be the game itself that takes highest priority – not the politics.

Whether the Australian selectors are willing to accept it or not, Midnight Oil’s words ring loud and true.

The time has come

To say fair's fair

To pay the rent

To pay our share

The time has come

A fact's a fact

It belongs to him

So give it back!