Jack de Belin

[Eric]

Jack de Belin turns down World Cup chance with Papua New Guinea.​

St George Illawarra lock Jack de Belin has again turned down the opportunity to play for PNG at the World Cup because he would feel like a “fraud”.
The 31-year-old, who is eligible to play for PNG as his grandmother was born in the Pacific nation, admits that the temptation to play for PNG will always be there.. But says "it doesn’t feel right", even tho he wants to play rep footy and still holds out hope of representing Australia. Even though time is running out.
“My No.1 goal is always to play for Australia and hopefully at some point I can do that even though the clock is ticking,” de Belin said.

 

[Eric]

Eric so harsh. Who was the first nation to stop the Japanese Empire on land in the jungles of PNG. Had we not forced the battle hardened Japanese to retreat from the strategic Kokoda trail they'd have taken Port Morseby and it was likely Australia then would have faced a full scale invasion. General Macathur gave our troops enthusiastic praise. Who held up the German Afrika Corp for many months from taking Tobruk before British and allied reinforcements arrived to help them turn the tide of the North African campaign. The Desert Rats were mostly made up of Aussie soldiers from the respected 6th Division, if memory serves. Aussie diggers were also integral allies to America in both Korea and Vietnam. Australia proved thruout the 20th Century that her men in uniform were far from military minnows when it came to sheer skilled warfare, guts, resilience and usually it was achieved against all the odds.

Interesting points but I guess we are looking at it from a different perspective. No one is threatening to invade Australia or even our neighbors. I think being a military minnow, i.e. spending very little money on it, far from being harsh, is a good thing. If Russia, China and USA want to fight for global dominance, none of our business. Continue being a military minnow, keep quiet, trade with everyone, don't take sides.

 

[GCRV]

Eric so harsh. Who was the first nation to stop the Japanese Empire on land in the jungles of PNG. Had we not forced the battle hardened Japanese to retreat from the strategic Kokoda trail they'd have taken Port Morseby and it was likely Australia then would have faced a full scale invasion. General Macathur gave our troops enthusiastic praise. Who held up the German Afrika Corp for many months from taking Tobruk before British and allied reinforcements arrived to help them turn the tide of the North African campaign. The Desert Rats were mostly made up of Aussie soldiers from the respected 6th Division, if memory serves. Aussie diggers were also integral allies to America in both Korea and Vietnam. Australia proved thruout the 20th Century that her men in uniform were far from military minnows when it came to sheer skilled warfare, guts, resilience and usually it was achieved against all the odds.

Australia was the only country to stop Japanese armies in PNG, wasn't it? Because 99% of their military power was fighting elsewhere.

General Macathur gave our troops enthusiastic praise.

Really????? It just gets worse and worse....

Who held up the German Afrika Corp for many months from taking Tobruk before British and allied reinforcements arrived to help them turn the tide of the North African campaign.

While 86% of their armies were getting a blood letting in the Soviet Union. Another 10% were in occupied Europe. Anglo-Americans accounted for about 5% of German military losses. Probably even a lower figure when counting Axis armies in Europe other than German.

Aussie diggers were also integral allies to America in both Korea and Vietnam.

Cringe! Specially Vietnam was a war of aggression the side Australia was on lost comprehensively.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Really?????

I resent this.

 

[GCRV]

I resent this.

You have a high opinion of General Douglas McCathur? I don't know about Australia, he's not important enough for most to have an opinion, but I know on both sides of the political spectrum, they dislike him very much in USA. And it's a fact he wanted to nuke China and the Soviet Union, even after the latter gained its own nukes.

 

[Eric]

You have a high opinion of General Douglas McCathur? I don't know about Australia, he's not important enough for most to have an opinion, but I know on both sides of the political spectrum, they dislike him very much in USA. And it's a fact he wanted to nuke China and the Soviet Union, even after the latter gained its own nukes.

That would include me. I just had a quick look a the Wikipedia page. Very long.

So anyway, Jack de Belin...... Doesn't it make sense to talk about politics, militarism and etc in "Other Discussions" > "General Discussion" and then a new thread called something like "International Politics and War" or something like that? Just a suggestion but we definately want this to be a thread about JDB, don't we?

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Australia was the only country to stop Japanese armies in PNG, wasn't it? Because 99% of their military power was fighting elsewhere.

Yes it was for the most part. The Yanks arrived late in the battle but it was the Australian 39th Infantry that diminished superior Japanese numbers on the Kokoda Track and then with the help from the Yanks the Japanese offensive was stopped and they retreated to the north of the island. Later the 39th played an major part in defeating freshly landed Japanese troops at Buna and Gona.. thus forcing the Japanese to abandon PNG.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Cringe! Specially Vietnam was a war of aggression the side Australia was on lost comprehensively.

cringe back to you. You dont sound like a proud Aussie to me.
My point being that Australia despite her small military population has never shirked from a fight in any war. There was another battle where we can hold ourselves proudly, the successful attack by the Australian Light Horse to defeat the Germans and Turks at the strategic town of Beersheba in WW1. You gonna denigrate that too gcrv.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Doesn't it make sense to talk about politics, militarism and etc in "Other Discussions" > "General Discussion" and then a new thread called something like "International Politics and War"

Yes.

 

[GCRV]

cringe back to you. You dont sound like an Aussie to me. Not a proud one anyway.
My point being that Australia despite her small military population has never shirked from a fight in any war. There was another battle where we can hold ourselves proudly, the successful attack by the Australian Light Horse to defeat the Germans and Turks at the strategic town of Beersheba in WW1. You gonna denigrate that too gcrv.

I'm against nationalism and specially militarism resulting from it. Guilty as charged. I don't think it's a case of "shirking war" unless Australia itself is threatened. So IMO the only justified war in the history of Australia was the WW2 Pacific War. I wouldn't denigrate the rank and file Australia soldiers who were victims of nationalism, imperialism and war.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

You have a high opinion of General Douglas McCathur? I don't know about Australia, he's not important enough for most to have an opinion, but I know on both sides of the political spectrum, they dislike him very much in USA. And it's a fact he wanted to nuke China and the Soviet Union, even after the latter gained its own nukes.

I suggest you do your research before being critical of my posts on this topic. Personally I loathed MacArthur's scathing remarks of Aussie troops failing to contain the Japanese advancement in PNG. General Thomas Blamey should have been appointed as the commander of an Australian territory that had been invaded by an enemy...not a Yank general who lost the Philippines. What's more he made those cutting remarks without first finding out the facts. That the first Australian troops into New Guinea were under trained and under armed enlisted men that were thrown into a jungle war against battle and jungle hardened enemy. These raw Aussie troops were cruelly called 'chockos' because when the battle got hot "they were expected to melt in the sun like chocolate" But the chockos proved themselves to be worthy warriors by holding their own against overwhelming Japanese forces until our then PM John Curtin demanded that Winston Churchill return our best troops, the battle hardened 7th Division AIF, to defend Australia. Once they arrived the tide of the PNG campaign changed with the Japanese taking very heavy losses. MacArthur acknowledged his hurtful comments with an apology to the Australian Commander General Blamey after the Japanese had been vanquished...

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

I'm against nationalism and specially militarism

I regard Australia's proud military history as significant. I too am against war as at the end of the day nothing has been achieved except mass destruction and a wasteful loss of life.

 

[Chris M]

JDB is our best lock, no doubt at all but watching the Souths-Cronulla game, I'm wondering why Bird at lock can't play like Murray. Bird is as big or bigger, as fast or faster, more skillful...... What gives? Why isn't Bird so much better than he actaully is_