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<\/p>\nDespite lagging behind in attracting top players, Cook Islands Rugby League has remained steadfast in its vision and goals.<\/p>\n
Head Coach Karmichael Hunt is at the helm of the Aitu as they secure their place in the 2027 Rugby League World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n
In an interview on Pacific Huddle, Hunt acknowledges that the delay in top players committing to the team has not affected performance outcomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019ve probably been a little bit late to the party with our top-end players pledging their allegiance to come and represent us. But thankfully, over the last couple of years, we\u2019re slowly getting our best players back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having claimed the 10th and final World Cup berth, the Aitu are set to welcome NRL heavyweights who have committed to representing the Cook Islands.<\/p>\n
The trend of players choosing to represent their heritage over tier-one nations continues to grow across the Pacific.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cook Islands Aitu in round one of the Pacific Championships Rugby League competition. Photo\/NRL <\/p>\n
After Payne Haas pledged his allegiance to S\u0101moa in August, the Cook Islands have some exciting names ready to join. Among those embracing their roots is 21-test Kangaroo and Queensland Maroons State of Origin champion Valentine Holmes.<\/p>\n
\u201cValentine Holmes is obviously committed to representing his culture, his mum’s culture and us, which is fantastic,\u201d Hunt says. \u201cSo when he\u2019s injury-free next year, he\u2019ll be involved in that World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a slow process, but I guess the belief for us as a whole, as a team, has been building over the last couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Karmichael Hunt playing for the Wallabies in 2017. Photo\/SMPIMAGES.COM<\/p>\n
Hunt brings a wealth of experience, having been the first person to represent Australia at the highest levels in Rugby Union, League, and Aussie Rules.<\/p>\n
After retiring from playing in 2021, it wasn\u2019t long before he traded in his boots for a clipboard when he received a tempting phone call he couldn\u2019t refuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was something I couldn\u2019t refuse to be honest, being of half Cook Island descent on my grandmother’s side and having a close tie to obviously going back to the Cook Islands as a youngster.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Tony Iro* made the call to sort of propose the idea of me taking over as head coach of the Aitu, I couldn\u2019t say no so it\u2019s been a fantastic journey so far.<\/p>\n
While teams prepared for their campaigns in various ways, Hunt noted the importance of the Tongan team returning to their homeland prior to the Pacific Championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a different team that got off the plane in Sydney to the one that arrived in Raro. Being hosted by our family, being hosted by family members that we didn\u2019t know, being hosted by our villagers, hearing about our ancestors and the battles they fought.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen firstly just being welcomed with open arms, because a lot of us play our trade abroad in New Zealand and Australia\u2026 so to be able to go home and to be loved and to say that they were behind us 100 per cent… we had no doubt in our mind who we were playing for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunt praises the major contributions of Pacific Island nations in elevating the sport on the international stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Rugby League should be blessed with the support that the Pacific Islands have thrown behind their teams. I think it\u2019s added a whole other dimension to Rugby League in itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, there has been talk of Rugby dominating international footy, which is rightfully so because it\u2019s quite global, but when you see the impact that S\u0101moa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Fiji and PNG are providing the international Rugby League, there\u2019s no reason why we couldn\u2019t continue to expand the international game.\u201d<\/p>\n
*Tony Iro, former Cook Islands Head Coach<\/p>\n
Listen to Karmichael Hunt’s full interview below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite lagging behind in attracting top players, Cook Islands Rugby League has remained steadfast in its vision and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-296297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296297","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=296297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}