So, Rugby League World Cup tournament director Geoff Carr doesn’t want to turn the 2008 bi-when-ever-they-feel-like-annual event into a “farce”. Hmmm.

It’s hard enough trying to explain to the cynics why this tournament should even be played – Australia powerhouse, New Zealand challenge from time to time, England think they can challenge but never really do. That’s it. Period. Nothing else.

For years, fans have mused about the power or might of a potential Polynesian XIII or a Pacific Island XIII. Now, for the first time, a glance at the squads offers the tantalising possibility of competitive, exciting, if not blockbusting talent sprinkled throughout the tournament.

There’s no disgrace to it either. There’s no Nathan Fien “granny-gate debacle”. The policy hasn’t quite just reached a “if the stamp is somewhere on your passport, you can play” stage. And if Qatar can buy Brazilians and Uruguayans to qualify for Football’s World Cup, then surely a couple of league players can go and out play for their heritage, their parents’ or grandparents’ country, after being told they are not in contention for ‘the big 2′.

Sure, it doesn’t look great when Jarred Hayne misses out on Australian selection and gets picked for Fiji. Ditto all the New Zealanders that have filtered through to the Island nations.

But as I said – I don’t think anyone can vouch for this as a bona fide World Cup anyway.

So why not open the shackles and roll out the entertainment. Let Jarrod Hayne take on Greg Inglis.

And they should have let Fui Fui Moi Moi tackle the Kiwis.

He’s a character, a talisman, a hero in his land. The farce lies in that he can’t play because of a ‘technicality’ (he switched from Tonga to New Zealand so has run out of changes to revert back to Tonga), while Hayne qualifies (by virtue of the fact that Australia to Fiji is the only change of allegiances he has made so far). Anthony Tupou, for goodness sake, trained with Tonga in the morning, heard of his selection for the Kangaroos, picked up and left – allowed to because he hadn’t switched over to Tonga yet so hadn’t used up his change.

These players play for Australia and New Zealand because it is where the accolades lie. But when they miss selection, let them fulfil a duty to promote the game or represent their spiritual homeland through the ‘world cup’.

I just worked out I’m eligible for four or five nations if they ever discover Rugby League. So surely Fui Fui can play for his own heritage. What’s the worst that can happen – we get a competitive game?

But onto the tournament itself – and the committee have done a really good job to keep it as credible as possible. Attractive games, like the Tonga v Samoa clash, have been taken out to Rugby League strongholds like Parramatta, Penrith, North Queensland, Gold Coast. Sydney has been punished for its attendances at international matches by losing the final to Suncorp Stadium, and fair enough.

International Rugby League can still conjure some great football. The 2006 Tri-Nations final was a pure classic, with Darren Lockyer scoring in golden point. But for one of the great international rugby league tries, re-live this beauty set up by current Kangaroo coach Ricky Stuart in 1990.