Which NRL Stars Have Samoan Heritage? Toa Samoa and the Islands Behind the Jerseys

The moment everything changed. At the 2022 Rugby League World Cup, Toa Samoa beat England in a semi-final for the ages and became the first Pacific nation ever to reach a Rugby League World Cup final. They did it with a squad drawn almost entirely from the NRL — and rugby league's centre of gravity has been shifting toward the Pacific ever since. The timing now could not be better: the NRL finals build to the grand final at Accor Stadium on 4 October 2026, and eleven days later the 2026 Rugby League World Cup kicks off, hosted across Australia and Papua New Guinea from 15 October to 15 November.

The headline names. Stephen Crichton, the Bulldogs' captain and one of the game's premier centres, was born in Apia before his family moved to Sydney. Jarome Luai and Brian To'o — premiership winners together at Penrith — were both born to Samoan families and have been the heartbeat of the Toa Samoa side, To'o's tries and Luai's swagger becoming symbols of the blue wave. Junior Paulo captained Samoa through their historic 2022 campaign. And in 2024, Payne Haas — widely rated the best prop in the world — switched his international allegiance to Samoa, a statement about where the modern game's loyalties and identities lie.

The next wave. Recent Toa Samoa squads have featured Melbourne's electric fullback Sua Fa'alogo, Cowboys back-rowers Jeremiah Nanai and Heilum Luki, Blaize Talagi, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Tyrone May, Phillip Sami, Simi Sasagi and Enari Tuala, among others. Squads change from series to series — the NRL's official Samoa pages (https://www.nrl.com/RLWC2026/) carry the current lists — but the pipeline is not slowing down.

Why Samoa produces so many stars. The short answer is the diaspora. Auckland has one of the largest Samoan communities of any city in the world, and western Sydney is not far behind — most Toa Samoa players were born in New Zealand or Australia to Samoan parents, raised in households where fa'a Samoa (the Samoan way), family and church sit at the centre of life. Eligibility rules that let players honour a parent's or grandparent's birthplace turned that heritage into a national team that can go toe to toe with Australia and New Zealand.

A note on accuracy: we only describe a player's connection to Samoa as reflected in public NRL and Toa Samoa records — who has pulled on the jersey. Family details beyond that are the players' own stories to tell.

Visiting the islands behind the jerseys. If the World Cup has you curious about Samoa itself, it is closer than you might think — about four hours' flying from Auckland. Base yourself around Apia and you can walk the harbourfront markets, visit the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum (https://kalena.fun/places/robert-louis-stevenson-museum) on the slopes of Mt Vaea, slide down the Papase'ea Sliding Rocks (https://kalena.fun/places/papaseea-sliding-rocks), and swim the To Sua Ocean Trench (https://kalena.fun/places/to-sua-ocean-trench) — the giant emerald swimming hole you have seen on every Samoa postcard. On a Sunday, expect the islands to slow down: church, family and to'onai (Sunday lunch) come first, which tells you more about where Toa Samoa's culture comes from than any highlights reel.

Make a trip of it. The World Cup window (October–November) sits just after the NZ and Australian spring school holidays — our guide to visiting Samoa around the school calendar (https://kalena.fun/blog/best-time-to-visit-samoa-nz-au-school-holidays) breaks down the best windows, and every stay and tour on Kalena prices in NZD and AUD. Browse our Samoa guides at https://kalena.fun/guides to start planning.