Viliame Kikau

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo says State of Origin eligibility rules will not change.

This means players like Viliame Kikau and Jason Taumalolo can’t play for Queensland and New South Wales this year.

Both players expressed their intreset to play Origin recently but Abdo said today in Brisbane the ARL Commission had no plans to change the Origin criteria in the short or long term.

Abdo also reaffirms the game’s commitment to make a call on a 17th NRL franchise based in Brisbane by July this year.

Meanwhile, round six of the NRL starts on Thursday with the Broncos hosting the Knights at 9:05pm.

[Source: NRL.com]