Both Sydney Roosters centre Robert Toia and New Zealand Warriors breakout forward Leka Halasima have told Kristian Woolf they will be available for Tongan selection this year.
Tonga, as a Tier 2 nation, regularly sees players switch from Tier 1 nations Australia and New Zealand to represent them in major tournaments.
This year, that will be the Pacific Championships, as they clash with New Zealand and Samoa, who are closing in on having all of Payne Haas, Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Jeremiah Nanai represent them at the end-of-year tournament.
Those four blows, as well as the likely elimination of Toia from the eligibility pool, will be a tough pill to swallow for new coach Kevin Walters.
Toia could have chosen to represent Australia, New Zealand or Tonga.
To play State of Origin, where he made his debut for the Queensland Maroons in a surprise selection this year, he already had to turn his back on New Zealand, who are also a Tier 1 team, but AAP are now reporting he will not make the trip to England with the Kangaroos for the return of the Ashes either.
He would have been in the mix to be selected, with Stephen Crichton likely to represent Samoa, constant injury questions around Latrell Mitchell, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow's likely deflection to Samoa, and Valentine Holmes currently being out injured.
Halasima, on the other hand, would have been in the selection mix for the Kiwis on the back of an excellent first full NRL campaign with the Warriors.
The forward is in the running for the rookie of the year award, but instead will take his talents to the Tongan set-up - provided he is picked by coach Woolf, who admitted trimming his squad to 21 could be a problem.
"They have both indicated to me that is what they want to do," Woolf told AAP.
"We have a fair squad we are going to have to trim down to 21, and they will be right in the reckoning."
It's understood Woolf has a preliminary squad of around 36 players, with Kotoni Staggs also potentially to be added to that if he decides to represent Tonga.
