AUSTRALIAN Rugby League chairman Colin Love has stressed that coach Ricky Stuart is not responsible for the selection of the national team.

It comes in the wake of Stuart's demand for England-bound Michael Crocker to be omitted from future teams.

Stuart made headlines during the week when he said he would prefer to have a player who was "passionate" about playing for Australia, ahead of one going to England to "cop the cash".

Stuart said he'd even be prepared to select the fourth choice if necessary.

The selectors have shot down the notion that Crocker could effectively be penalised for making a decision he thought was best for his career.

Bob McCarthy and Des Morris are on the record as saying they would not allow a player's future to count against him in the selection room.

McCarthy, however, refused to comment further when contacted by The Sun-Herald yesterday.

But Love gave an iron-clad guarantee that the make-up of the team was ultimately in the hands of the selection panel, not Stuart.

"Ricky is not a selector," Love said. "He might talk to the selectors about the team but the charter of the selectors is for them to pick the best Australian team possible.

"They [the selectors] receive no direction from the ARL, either."

Stuart's call for Crocker to pay the price for quitting the NRL flew in the face of Love's reassurance that St George Illawarra superstar Mark Gasnier would not be punished with non-representative selection if he pursued an opportunity to play rugby in France.

The issue of selecting players who decide to play in the Super League could become a legal hot potato, as it could be interpreted as restraint of trade.

With many of Australia's top players being targeted by English clubs it is possible the likes of superstars Darren Lockyer, Cam Smith and Greg Inglis could eventually be based there.

If the ARL overlooks for national duties the stars moving en masse to Super League, it is possible the English Rugby League could revisit the post-World War II period.

In those days they'd pick an Other Nationalities team to play Great Britain and provide their game with a financial windfall.

Crocker's NRL contract expires on October 31 - one week into the World Cup - so technically he will still be an NRL player when the selectors meet.

A precedent to select players from the England competition was set in 2003 when the Chris Anderson-coached Kangaroos called Darren Smith into the team as an emergency player for the third Test after Ryan Girdler and Craig Gower were injured.

Smith was selected ahead of three other Kangaroos, including Penrith winger Luke Lewis.