Gold Coast Titansย starย AJ Brimsonย has had his application approved to convert his international allegiance, which will see him switch Tier 1 eligibility fromย Australiaย toย England.
An International Rugby League tribunal unanimously agreed to allow the 26-year-old to swap out his Kangaroos jumper for an English jersey, due to his eligibility toย represent his English heritage through his mother, Vanessa.
The ruling comes just in time for Brimson to showcase his love for his heritage as soon as this year, when he can play for England against the Kangaroos in the historic end-of-season Ashes series and the 2026 World Cup.
While Brimson has been a shining light for the Queensland Maroons when they've needed him most over the last few seasons, the Gold Coast Titans half hasn't received the same honours to represent his country on the biggest stages, a fact that helped his case in making the switch to his birth country's rivals.
IRL eligibility rules state that players who have been named in the 19-player squad for a Senior International Match or selected in a team for an official international 9s competition for a Tier 1 nation, which includes Australia, England, and New Zealand, are unable to switch to another Tier 1 nation.
While Brimson has suited up for Australia in the 2019 IRL 9s World Cup in Sydney and represented the Junior Kangaroos against France in 2019, he has not been selected for a Senior International Match.
At the time, the 9s World Cup was part of IRL's calendar planning, which was expected to be held every four years.
The tournament, however, was eventually discontinued, wiping it out of the IRL's medium-term planning.
This is why the tribunal saw it fitting to allow Brimson to make the switch to his mother's heritage on the international stage, allowing the young star to make a once-prohibited conversion.
While it has been reported that Kangaroos officials were supportive of the young star's decision, it certainly comes as a sting to Queensland Maroons fans, with Brimson essentially forfeiting his Origin jumper in the process.
It seems the 4-time Maroon is set on his decision to represent his mother's heritage, though, and at the ripe age of 26, his timing couldn't be better for him to build an all-time legacy on the international stage.
โThis was a unique case in that a player who qualifies for two Tier 1 nations had elected to represent one of those nations in 9s and was therefore unable to represent the other nation in 13s," IRL Chair Troy Grant said.
โYet the player has had no further opportunity to represent his elected nation in 9s, as he had anticipated, and has also not played a Senior International Match.
โThe aim of the international eligibility rules is to ensure that the best players are able to represent a nation for whom he or she qualifies but in this case the player had been left sidelined.
โThe tribunal therefore felt that player Brimson should be allowed to switch his international eligibility from Australia to England and approved his application to do so.โ
