Pacific league tests deserving of place in NRL calendar

Albert Vete of Tonga is tackled during the International Test Match between TOA Samoa and Tonga. Photo / Getty Images

Five days on and I'm still relishing what was a terrific representative round of football capped by the Kiwis' tremendous Anzac test win over the Kangaroos.

The intensity and quality of football in that game was of the highest order while the other international matches between Samoa and Tonga and Fiji and Papua New Guinea were also terrific contests.

The NRL has spoken for a long time about making room in their calendar to accommodate test football and it's really paying off, with all the nations involved rising to the occasion to produce three intriguing games.

It's something that league people - players, fans and media - have been waiting a long time for and it was great to see the Pacific nations contributing strongly as they've had such a big influence on the NRL.

The success of those Pacific Island games has finally seen their players get the exposure they deserve.

And as that continues to grow, I think you'll see more and more Pacific players electing to stick with their home country, and that's another real positive for the international game.

The Kiwis' win was exciting and hugely satisfying and a great reward for a team that has been slowly building over the last couple of years.

Similar to the strong team culture and positive playing approach adopted by the Black Caps, the Kiwis are reaping the benefits of a healthy team environment where the players believe in one another and what they are trying to achieve as a group.

It seems as if New Zealand sporting teams across the board are sharing those qualities and are on the same wavelength, and long may it continue.

How good is it to have a Kiwis team everyone can be proud of?

That result has really put a smile on lots of faces and for once we were all raving about their brilliant 80-minute effort instead of lamenting how "they were good for the first 20 or 40 minutes before fading away".

The Kiwis are benefiting from having strong competition for spots across every position and all players are doing their best to earn selection, which wasn't always the case.

Last year we saw the likes of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck withdraw from Four Nations selection because of concerns he had played too much football.

What are the chances he or any other player will make that kind of decision again? Extremely unlikely, I would say.

Tuivasa-Sheck was dirty he had missed such a great campaign and was desperate to put in a strong show last weekend against the Australians to show he deserved his place in the team.

The consistency of Stephen Kearney's selections were also vindicated with the likes of Jason Nightingale, and the halves pairing of Shaun Johnson and Kieran Foran, all living up to expectations that they would do the job.

When those experienced guys jump into this side they feel very comfortable and everyone works so hard for each other that they start to become better players through their collective effort.

And when you're talking about our team as a whole, when they perform at their best they have shown they are really difficult to stop.

Bring on the end-of-year tests against England and the chance for this team to develop even further.