Former New Zealand Warriors head coach Tony Kemp has taken shots at the annual All Stars after a large contingent have pulled out of the match yet again, just days before the first New Zealand-based instalment.

Kemp, who coached the Warriors in 2004 and 2005, has blasted players for withdrawing for illegitimate reasons after 25 per cent of players named in the original team withdrew from the cultural clash.

Nelson Asofa-Solomona has been bitten by a dog, Joseph Manu fractured his face in Queenstown, while Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is still dealing with a hamstring issue that cut his World Cup campaign short.

Others, like Josh Addo-Carr, want to be fresh for the NRL season after a massive 2022 campaign that ended less than three months ago, while some have given less detail over their withdrawal.

While the reasoning is fair enough, Kemp is far from happy about it.

โ€œI don't think that it's legitimate,โ€ Kemp toldย SENZ.

โ€œWhat people have forgotten, players have only been back since the Christmas break, a lot of them, because they've been at the World Cup.

โ€œIt's really sad... you finally get this game to New Zealand, so they go, โ€˜Right, because of what the Warriors have done over the last three years we're going to bring a game to New Zealand'.

โ€œWhich is a great concept, they've got that right, great concept and they're going to bring it to New Zealand and then they don't go in and sort the CBA out.โ€

The 55 year-old believes there's more at play to keep these players out of the game.

โ€œI don't think it's just because players don't want to come here,โ€ Kemp added on the program.

โ€œI think that clubs are saying, โ€˜Well you're not coming here because there's insuranceย problems, there's CBA issues, we're not going to risk you, we need you for the start of the season, you haven't been training since after Christmas and you're not ready to go out there and play'.

NRL Rd 10 - Roosters v Eels
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 15: Joseph Manu of the Roosters takes on the defence during the round 10 NRL match between the Sydney Roosters and the Parramatta Eels at Suncorp Stadium, on May 15, 2022, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

โ€œThe sad thing about that is we've got this wonderful game and we're not going to have the best players to look at.

โ€œWe're not going to have the best Indigenous stars and we already know that we've got close to 10 of our first choice Mฤori boys not playing, so now it's becoming a bit of a reserve grade match.โ€

The Indigenous All Stars start the match as favourites despite not hoisting the trophy once over their last three encounters, especially with Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton cleared to play following their Canberra arrest.

Kick-off is scheduled for 3:45pm (AEDT) on Saturday afternoon at Rotorua's Intranational Stadium.

1 COMMENT

  1. I think the clubs don’t want the game, for the reasons identified. If a key player (someone like Nicho Hynes) gets damaged, a club’s season could, literally, be ended before it even starts.

    Fringe NRL players will be all for it, because they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

    Established players, particularly the ones who have played for their country already, are less enthusiastic.

    The match exists only because the NRL finally realised that Indigenous v The NRL All Stars was essentially black v white, and a terrible look. Indigenous v Maori doesn’t look quite so bad, but two teams selected on race doesn’t appeal to me.
    The only good thing about the game is that it is an actual game, in the off-season.

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