TONGA head coach Kristian Woolf believes other nations are closing the gap on Australia and New Zealand.
His side’s World Cup challenge came to an end in the semi-finals with a 34-10 defeat to the Kiwis.
But Woolf headed to Newcastle with the confidence his side could win the entire competition after group wins over England and Samoa.
“We certainly think we’ve got a team that’s capable of doing that,” he said after the match.
“Tongan rugby league can be really confident going forward – there are a lot of young men in there who have their best footy ahead of them.
“If you look at the interest and the atmosphere last week, that’s on the back of Tonga and Samoa. The majority of the fans here tonight were our fans. It’s outstanding what those two nations have brought to the game.
“While we’re competitive it grows the international game and the excitement around it. It’s been great to be a part of it.
“It was a movement started by Jason (Taumalolo) with his commitment in 2017 – he deserves a lot of accolades for it. I’m sure he can sit back at some stage and enjoy games like last week (against Samoa).
“Obviously everyone’s disappointed – you can feel the disappointment in there. It was a quiet changing room for a long time because everyone knows it’s a missed opportunity with what the group has been able to do.
“With how talented the group is, and some of the footy we have played, it’s a missed opportunity; we just couldn’t get it done tonight.
“It’s important that we recognise that, and we learn from that, but we’ve had four outstanding weeks together, and it’s a group that has really come together well to represent their nation. I think everyone should be really proud.
“Once upon a time, we were happy just to be in the finals and be competitive, but now we see ourselves as real players who believe we can win it. We just haven’t been able to produce that (standard) tonight.”
