Rise of Pacific Nations is now Origin’s greatest threat
Tongan coach Kristian Woolf senses the gap between State of Origin and international rugby league is closing, and the recent success could force changes in the game’s calendar.
NRL
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It wasn’t so long ago international rugby league was the laughing stock of the greatest game of all.
Now Tonga coach Kristian Woolf believes it could one day challenge State of Origin for ultimate supremacy on the back of the rise to power of the Pacific Nations.
In the wake of Papua New Guinea’s historic Test triumph over Great Britain, Wayne Bennett this week lauded the current international standard as being “as good as I’ve seen it”.
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PNG’s shock result came after Tonga’s phenomenal recent performances that also included victories over Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand, while Fiji also beat Papua New Guinea in a breathtaking spectacle.
These stunning against-the-odds achievements have even led to calls for a Pacific Nations NRL team to be considered as part of the game’s future expansion plans.
It also opens up an even bigger debate in respect to the make-up of the overall rugby league calendar — and at what point does the NRL season get potentially shortened so that more Test footy can be played?
For years critics have argued Origin already has too big an impact on the NRL season, and it is no use adding more and more international footy to the tail end of an already overloaded calendar because player burn out and injury are just too big a risk.
Woolf concedes as much as “you’d love to see” a Pacific Nations team in the NRL, it is still too soon.
“There are a lot of logistics that make it really difficult,” Woolf said.
But that’s not to say the international game isn’t closing the gap on Origin’s dominance.
“With more opportunities all of the Pacific Nations are getting more competitive,” he continued.
“And it is also becoming a bigger thing to play for the nations as well.
“That is certainly the direction international rugby league is taking.
“While all those teams keep getting opportunities they are going to get closer and closer to the mark, and you are going to see more and more wins from Pacific Island teams over the bigger nations.”
Asked if he could see the day where international rugby league would have a bigger overall appeal than Origin, Woolf added: ““In the eyes of our players, playing for Tonga is as big as Origin if not bigger, and that includes our fans.
“It is certainly going to get closer to the mark.
“At the moment Origin is such a massive beast and international footy has a long way to go.
“If you look at it realistically, PNG are very good at pulling in a crowd and interest in PNG.
“We (Tonga) obviously do a really good job in New Zealand.
“Outside of that international footy is still not supported enough.
“But hopefully this new interest on the back of teams being able to get up and beat the tier one nations, I’d like to think that certainly helps that interest grow as well.”