NRL star granted permission to switch allegiance to England ahead of Ashes

NRL playmaker AJ Brimson has been granted permission to switch his international allegiance to England.

Brimson has previously declared his interest in representing England, who he qualifies for through his mother, but was ineligible to do so after playing for Australia at 9s. The 26-year-old represented his country of birth at the 2019 9s World Cup and according to the International Rugby League eligibility rules, that would ordinarily make his unable to switch to another Tier 1 nation.

However, an IRL tribunal has approved the Gold Coast Titans man’s application to become eligible for England and that means he could very well be called up to represent Shaun Wane’s side in the autumn against the Kangaroos.

The tribunal has ruled that with the 9s World Cup unlikely to return any time soon, players who represented their chosen nations at the time were being unfairly restricted. As such, given Brimson has never played a senior international 13s match for Australia, he should be given the freedom to switch.

The Kangaroos were informed as part of the process with Brimson’s home nation supportive of the switch.

IRL chair Troy Grant said: “This was a unique case in that a player who qualifies for two Tier 1 nations had elected to represent one of those nations in 9s and was therefore unable to represent the other nation in 13s.

“Yet the player has had no further opportunity to represent his elected nation in 9s, as he had anticipated, and has also not played a Senior International Match.

“The aim of the international eligibility rules is to ensure that the best players are able to represent a nation for whom he or she qualifies but in this case the player had been left sidelined.

“The tribunal therefore felt that player Brimson should be allowed to switch his international eligibility from Australia to England and approved his application to do so.”

NRL star AJ Brimson to be called up for England?

Wane has selected heritage players in the past, with Victor Radley opting to represent the country of his father’s birth. Radley has made nine appearances for England so far and all being well, will be involved against Australia this autumn.

However, it seems he could be joined on the plane over by Brimson, who has demonstrated his desire and passion to represent England by going through the IRL process.

Brimson has made 120 appearances for the Titans, scoring 48 tries along the way and that includes the five tries in eight games he has managed this season at stand-off. He has represented Queensland on four occasions in the State of Origin, with his last outing for the Maroons coming in July 2023.

He can play in a number of positions with most of his career being split between six and full-back. He has been known to play centre on a limited number of occasions, too.