{"id":949321,"date":"2026-11-02T01:04:21","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T01:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/949321\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T01:04:21","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T01:04:21","slug":"rugby-league-world-cup-news-2026-robert-toia-hungry-to-win-second-title-of-the-year-as-tonga-dare-to-dream-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/949321\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby League World Cup news 2026 | Robert Toia hungry to win second title of the year as Tonga dare to dream, comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been two months since Robert Toia lifted the premiership trophy with the Sydney Roosters<\/a>. Now, he is hungry to collect the biggest title on the world stage. <\/p>\n

Bookmakers installed the Kangaroos as the pre-tournament favourites and most fans would have expected Toia would have been a better shot of being on the winning side had he chosen to wear the green and gold at the World Cup<\/a>, but Toia and Tonga daring to dream. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Toia is hopeful to lift two trophies this season.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe belief in the group is so high, we feel like we can win the competition,\u201d Toia told reporters, including nine.com.au, on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe do our stuff, we believe in our guys, I think that is all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toia has shown no signs of fatigue after a remarkable season with the Roosters, winning the premiership, establishing himself as a guaranteed pick for the Queensland Maroons<\/a> then following the season with an international call-up. <\/p>\n

The rugby league world is starting to get a better understanding of Toia\u2019s freakish talent, while also getting a front-row seat to the rise of the Pacific Island nations as a whole. <\/p>\n

Tonga and Samoa\u2019s thrilling 20-18 battle on Sunday<\/a> kept fans on the edge of their seats, with Toia earning player of the match honours on Sunday thanks to his incredible performance, after scoring the opening try and making 143 run metres. <\/p>\n

While his passion for Tonga is clear, Toia was also eligible to play for Australia. He opted against the $40,000 cheque all Kangaroos players in the RLWC squad are paid and instead accepted the $2550 sum for playing with Tonga in the group stages. Toia and his teammates will earn an additional $850 for each of the knockout games.<\/p>\n

Toia admitted the decision to choose Tonga \u201cwas not as easy as you\u2019d think\u201d. But the atmosphere inside CommBank Stadium and also the effort fans in Tonga are putting in to watch the team play has become a more valued reward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was probably up there with one of the (best games),\u201d Toia said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was crazy. Especially after last year\u2019s campaign, them beating us … the rivalry goes back a long time, so to get that win, we have to celebrate it. It is special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually saw this video of a Tongan guy who had a disability in one of his arms. He rode a bike less than 10km\/hr for six hours from his village just to watch the boys play. That is just a small thing that makes it (sweeter).\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristian Woolf had high praise for Toia\u2019s choice to put aside the significant money that was on offer to join Australia\u2019s squad, led by coach Kevin Walters. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mark Nawaqanitawase and Robert Toia celebrate grand final glory.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad he\u2019s with us. He made a lot of sacrifices to be with us,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople can overlook that really quickly. He was going to be in the Australian squad, (with) the money \u2013 it\u2019s something that makes a difference to people – there\u2019s no doubt about that. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut as a matter of sacrifice, we\u2019re proud to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The celebrations of defeating Samoa will be short-lived by the team, with Toia insisting the group still knows how much work needs to be put in to go to the end. <\/p>\n

New Zealand stands in the way of the Pacific nation and a spot in the final, but Toia\u2019s personal ambition to end the year on a high will be a motivating factor for the semi-final clash on Saturday. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor it to be the last thing for me to tick of this year, it would be so special,\u201d Toia replied when asked what it would mean to end the year with a World Cup title. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it is a pretty hard thing to do given how long the year is with Origin and finals. To do this at the end would mean so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get the news you need straight to your inbox. Sign up for our nine.com.au newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been two months since Robert Toia lifted the premiership trophy with the Sydney Roosters. Now, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-949321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949321","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=949321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}