{"id":244628,"date":"2025-10-27T18:21:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/244628\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T18:21:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:21:20","slug":"pacific-coaches-demand-greater-respect-from-nrl-ahead-of-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/244628\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific coaches demand greater respect from NRL ahead of World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As international rugby league reaches fever pitch with the Ashes and Pacific Championships in full swing, the spectacle has delivered a huge boost for the NRL \u2014 but not everyone is celebrating.<\/p>\n<p>Samoa coach Ben Gardiner and Tonga coach Kristian Woolf have urged the NRL to step up, calling for greater support, equality, and recognition for Pacific nations ahead of next year\u2019s Rugby League World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Their message follows Sunday\u2019s blockbuster showdown between Samoa and Tonga, which drew nearly 45,000 fans \u2014 a turnout that highlights the Pacific nations\u2019 growing importance to the international game and their role in showcasing some of rugby league\u2019s most exciting talent.<\/p>\n<p>Yet despite their massive influence and passionate fan base, Gardiner and Woolf say Pacific teams continue to fight an uphill battle, competing under conditions far less favourable than those enjoyed by powerhouse nations like Australia.<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/rugby-league\/news\/nrl-news-roosters-marky-mark-rugby-world-cup-ashes-kangaroos\/993fa392062676375590ffab\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">\u2018Definitely on the cards\u2019: Marky Mark teases NRL return after Rugby World Cup dream<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeams like Tonga, Samoa, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji should be respected,\u201d Gardiner told news.com.au.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt shows how the Pacific nations are leading the way with rugby league at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Woolf acknowledged progress had been made in recent years, he argued the NRL still gives preferential treatment to major nations like Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThings are more equal and we get more respect than we used to, but we&#8217;re still a long way behind the bigger nations, Australia in particular,\u201d Woolf said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you look at the conditions afforded to other teams, I think it&#8217;s time we got a bit more respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gardiner agreed, urging the NRL to ensure a level playing field \u2014 especially with the World Cup fast approaching.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there&#8217;s a need for fairness across the board,\u201d Gardiner said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeams like Australia have been given special conditions around their CBA, everyone deserves to be treated equally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As international rugby league reaches fever pitch with the Ashes and Pacific Championships in full swing, the spectacle&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-244628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}