Maybe time to get that Combined Pacific Nations team on track
Agreed. A combined Pacific team (involving the best of PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Is) would compete closely and stand a chance of beating the big 3. Even if individual PI nations improve, the Big 3 will improve more, and they will continue this trend:
NZ 48 - 6 PNG
Au 46 - 6 PNG
Au 52 - 0 Fiji
NZ 40 - 24 Tonga
NZ 50 - 6 Samoa
Au 42 - 0 PNG
NZ 76 - 12 PNG
Tell me any of the individual nations would look any stronger than this combined Pacific team:
Wes Naiqama (Fiji), Francis Meli (Samoa), Daryl Millard (Fiji), George Carmont (Samoa), Etu Uaisale (Tonga); Feleti Mateo (Tonga), Paul Aiton (PNG); Tony Puletua (Samoa), Tevita Leo-Latu (Tonga), Epalahame Lauaki (Tonga); Ukuma Ta'ai (Tonga), David Solomona (Samoa), Zeb Taia (Cook Islands). BENCH: Makali Aizue (PNG), Harrison Hansen (Samoa), Charlie Wabo (PNG), Alex Glenn (Cook Islands).
5 Samoans, 5 Tongans, 3 PNG, 2 Fijians, 2 Cook Islanders.
7 play NRL, 8 play in Super League, 2 in the Championship. That's 15 first graders.IMO like Costigan, Uate and Williams may have stuck with the Pacific to play for a strong combined team.
The individual nations have much smaller numbers of regular first graders. PNG had 1 regular FG player in the 17 (Aiton), Fiji had 2 of 17, Cooks had 3 of 17, Tonga had 5 of 17, Samoa had 8 of 17. A combined team could feature between 15 to 17 first graders in the 17.
Use a cricket analogy. In cricket, Australia and England don't play Jamaica, or Barbados, we play the West Indies. While the WI have struggled recently, they are more than the sum of their parts. In RL, let the combined Pacific team play the Big 3, the individual nations can play the Pacific Cup, minor nations, clubs and RLWC.