One of the last of rugby league's straight-shooters: Brent Tate. Credit:Getty Images Another Australian team insider informed this column at the weekend that "some players want to play" next spring and "others don't". What other sport, in what other country, allows its athletes to dictate whether or not it plays internationals? Lunatics, please meet asylum. There is a strong belief – shared by Discord – that if Great Britain want to embark on a full-scale tour in October and November next year, their first since 1992, Aussie players who are not interested in playing can watch from their Bali barstools. Paul Kind of the NRL had pencilled in a wonderful itinerary that involved travelling from Brisbane to Sydney by bus and dropping in on country towns, just like days of yore.

Other sports have accepted they do not have to always field their strongest sides in internationals, weathering the negative publicity associated with "rotation", and the Aussie league team will have to go through this eventually, too. Why not next year? Many players you might see as "nailed on" for the Australian Four Nations team THIS year – let's use Justin Hodges as an example – may opt for surgery instead. We could get "rotation" sooner rather than later – like, in six weeks. Players' association boss Dave Garnsey told me some time ago the "year off" for representative players is not in the collective bargaining agreement. Australia was offered a year off once – after visiting Britain four times in five years, including in the months after the September 2001 terrorism attacks. It was not intended to be a permanent concession between each World Cup, which is what it has become.

I repeat, if you don't want to play then don't. Someone will fill your spot. Meanwhile, if Australia are the prettiest/most handsome person in the 2015 room and have now left, the cashed-up English are the next most attractive. And they've stolen the frumpy Frenchmen's date from them, just like in the Dolly Parton song Joelene. Nigel Wood, please don't take her just because you can! More on the Mata'utia brothers' moniker Further to our Set of Six item about the Mata'utia brothers, it's great to see they have decided on a "house style" for the pronunciation of their surname.

We were joking on Monday when we said that Sione probably has a third way of saying his name but, according to the Australian Schoolboys organisation, he does. He told his schools coach to say it: "Mata-tia". Let's be blunt – era of NRL players being candid is nearly over With the retirements of sterling blokes Luke Bailey and Brent Tate, the era of engaging honesty among NRL players is just about over. As colleague Phil Lutton says, the outcry over Tate's decription of how an Origin tackle made him feel this year will probably rub out any lingering thoughts among young players of being candid in interviews.

Prepare yourself for the Era Of The Dougs – Doug Deep and Doug In. Ice hockey and rugby league don't compare Comments time – and first to last week's Discord. Bob said the NRL should become an international niche competition, as is the NHL. But ice hockey has a thriving international scene, Bob, and when an exhibition game was played in Sydney it was between national sides, not clubs. Travis kind of touched on the issue raised in the first item this week – the idea of Australia fielding a less-than-full-strength side in internationals.

I promised to work my way through the entire 241 comments on the image yarn and so I will – even though it's something of a pain in the butt. Matt said I was "a sports journo needing to whip up something to keep him employed". Matt, I was paid no more for that column than I'm being paid for this, which is about trainspotting international matters. I am paid no more if this column is on the back of the Herald than if it appears only online and is read by no one. RM said my story disrespected 99 per cent of players as much as Carney did. You're right. It did. Lgrsydney said players were allowed to "run amok" under David Gallop. I'm sure Brett Stewart (found innocent in court after being suspended) would disagree, and so would casual Sydneysiders who knew Gallop only because he was on the news every second night talking sternly about the punishment meted out to another miscreant. Bob says rugby league has provided me with my livelihood. Wrong. Journalism has provided me with my livelihood. I can no more be disingenuous in my summation of an issue in rugby league than a referee can leg-up a team because their victory would be "good for the game". Bad player behaviour, the absence of private schools, poor international administration, suffocating TV contracts and other problems hold rugby league back, and I am entitled to say that if I believe it.

Particularlynastyweather said "role models are for losers". Role models are an accepted societal phenomenon, as is rebellion against one's parents. If one rebels against one's parents but also has no-one else to look up, then what is left? A world without heroes is a world without sun, you can't look up to anyone (said someone who turned out to be rather dodgy role model himself). Loading Forum. Podcast.