Enjoy those old videos of the 1982 Kangaroos and film of the 1951 Frenchmen - league can't see them anymore from the interior of its own backside. Pecking order: the situation involving several Warriors players including Manu Vatuvei shows who really runs the international game. Credit:Getty Obstruction ructions Onto rugby league's other withering morass and former Australia centre Mark Gasnier says he's so upset with obstruction calls he'd turn himself off.

Speaking on Fox Sports at half-time in the Warrirors-St George Illawarra game, Gasnier said: "I do it for a job but if you're at home, you have the choice of switching on or flicking off, I'd be flicking it off."

The comments come in the wake of Jamie Lyon's swan dive on Saturday night. A coach's meeting this week is set to "discuss" (read: erupt) over the issue. St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor said of the decisions: "It has a big bearing on the momentum of the game and how it changes. But you've got to move on. I saw the guys after the third one. They were disappointed and their heads were dropping. In the box, we didn't have the replay." Lies and intimidation International rugby league's death aside, and amid all the Anthony Milford talk, the only thing you need to know about eligibility came in a text message from RLIF headquarters in Fitzrovia over the weekend: "State games have no impact on RLIF eligibility". Under international rules, playing for NSW or Queensland, senior or under 20s, has no more impact on one's national eligibility than representing Group 16.

NSW and Queensland don't like this. They make players promise to be eligible only for Australia. The promise is not binding (unless the player reaches green and gold status) so they must threaten players with non-selection if they dare to represent anyone else. Former Samoa media manager Anna Barwell tweeted yesterday: "I know of a few Samoan players who have been heavily and unfairly pressured by QRL to dodge selection. it sucks that no one has been in their corner to say "hey they're full of shit. This is how it works'. The players have the power but don't know it. And because of cultural backgrounds they won't speak out or "miss-step". Whiteboard Jungle The overhead projector was the harbinger of doom at Parramatta a few years back but the whiteboard is a much more positive news bearer, it appears. Called up to the Warrriors side when five players were dropped for disciplinary reasons (see item one), youngster Toafofoa Sipley says, "I found out iin a pretty dramatic way - the flip of a whiteboard. It's different to when 'Cappy' calls out the team. I was pretty happy I've always been prepared, particularly being off the field for quite a long time, 10 months away (with injury)."

Warriors captain Ryan Hoffman said of the dramatic week: "We drew a line in the sand about what it meant to wear a Warriors jersey." McFadden declined to go into any detail about the mass sackings. Heavy mental storm Coach Craig Bellamy and captain Cameron Smith conceded after the 38-0 flogging of Gold Coast the side lacked mental toughness last year. "(Craig) spoke to us last year after we bowed out of the competition," Smith said. "It was probably because of the lack of mental toughness in our squad. Not everyone, but across the board we probably weren't mentally tough enough for this competition, to win it. We did go a little bit old school with the way we approached the season and the work that we did do. with different drills. We did a lot more running,

"With how we've gone this year with multiple injuries and players playing out of position, it's a bit of a reward for all the hard work the players put in." Bellamy said his core players are so fit from pre-season torture they hardly do fitness work during the season. A solution It's a little-understood fact that many developing rugby league countries don't want heritage players in their national side. They feel backed into a corner by their rivals picking them. The best solution is allowing players who miss selection for a tier one nation to play for a tier two country but NSW and Queensland have blocked this for years and there's no reason to think they'll change. So why not just let rugby league develop internationally as an amateur sport and leave he professional nations play amongst themselves most of the time?