Samoa out to write final chapter of rugby league’s Pacific Revolution | Rugby

Images of Tagaloa, the giant Samoan creation God show him balancing on two islands and beaming with a smile. The islands were stepping stones for his Polynesian people that have always been on the move.

He would be proud of this Samoan rugby league team who are looking to make history and write the final chapter of the Pacific Revolution by becoming the first Pacific nation to make a Rugby League World Cup final.

Based in Doncaster, Toa Samoa have been channelling Tagaloa’s sense of fun and keeping things loose, having been adopted by the local community.

Immersed in a cultural bubble away from contract negotiations and negative media, they have solidified their brotherhood over kebabs, cultural dance, singing and attending a league two football match.

Eight of the Toa Samoa players still have magic dust from playing in the recent NRL grand final, and this is a group at the peak of their powers.

Doncaster Rugby League chief executive, Carl Hall, has been in awe of the team and is confident of their chances: “We could be hosting the winners, it’s an unbelievable team they’re putting together.”

Central to head coach Matt Parish’s coaching team has been Manly legend Geoff Toovey as assistant coach/court-jester – a wildcat addition to help keep Toa Samoa grounded and focused but always laughing, and culturally blending a team of stars into a star team.

Each Samoan player has been standing on Tagaloa’s two islands – many withdrawing from selection for either the Kangaroos or the Kiwis in favour of representing their family heritage and ancestral homeland.

As the players each took their decisions, the media took aim with a binary ‘us or them’ mentality, labelling them ‘mercenaries’ and ignoring the dual-identity reality for Pasifika players who can love their adopted land as much as their island of heritage.

Roosters dynamo Joseph Suaalii’s decision to play for Samoa energised the community. The prospect of making his father proud and more deeply connect with his culture was overwhelming.

Suaalii’s decision was triggered by family consensus and a childhood memory of his father driving from Sydney to Melbourne to watch Samoa play rugby union.

Samoa’s disastrous performance in the 2017 World Cup, including a loss to Tonga, a draw with Scotland and a 46-0 thrashing by the Kangaroos, was blamed on indiscipline, weight gain and a ‘holiday mentality’.

It was supposed to be Samoa’s graduation party, their coronation as the fourth world power in rugby league, but they were derailed and it triggered deep soul-searching.

Into the vacuum stepped Mate Ma’a Tonga, who came agonisingly close to beating England in the semi-final, bludgeoning their way to a place at rugby league’s head table and breaking a 40-year ‘big three’ stranglehold.

Mate Ma’a Tonga appear quietly confident in their newly anointed role as a rugby league superpower,…