Quote: JEAN CAPDOUZE "More interesting than the biff is the fact that almost everyone of these Tongan players became established stars in Super League or the NRL. (Fui Fui Moi Moi with Parramatta, Feleti Mateo with NZ Warriors, Solomon Haumono with Canterbury and later London, Sam Moa with Hull and now Sydney Roosters, and so on).
It shows how much Pacific island talent there is in rugby league. What a pity though that rugby union has cornered most of the Fijian market, since it is the biggest island geographically and population wise, if you exclude PNG. Yet even then rugby league has attracted the talent of Akuila Uate, Marika Koroibete, Sisa Waqa, Petero Civinoceva, Lote Tuqiri, and others.'"
Rugby league has basically ignored the pacific islands for too long. There has never been a player scouted from tonga and Samoa move to the nrl, all of their players were either born or raised in aus and nz. Fiji has had a couple recently in sisa waqa and marika koroibete, but the other players you mention were raised in Australia where they took up too long. Things have really picked up in Fiji due to the last rlwc though and rugby league is growing well but still lags well behind union. We need to develop our sport in the pacific islands themselves instead of relying on heritage players all of the time but our administration don't seem to care a great deal.
