No really, the Illawarra is highly appreciative of your efforts during the Four Nations campaign to ensure Sunday’s game at WIN Stadium will be – or at least should be – a sensational contest.

In the fine tradition of Australia’s regions feeding off the metropolitan scraps when it comes to major sporting contests, Wollongong was handed the rights to the Australia-Samoa game, mainly  to appease fans angry at just four Dragons home games played during the NRL season.

The reasoning stood that the Illawarra public should just be happy to see a rare international game, even if the general consensus was Australia would lap the rag-tag islanders, before getting on with the routine business of a Four Nations final.

But Samoa, you thrilling – if a little error prone – excitement machines have made it so much more.

If not for a Ben Roberts brain explosion minutes from full-time against New Zealand, the Samoans would almost certainly have arrived in Wollongong on the back of the greatest victory in their nation’s rugby league history.

The Kiwis’ great escape, leaving Samoa winless, should only fuel the fire to make a statement against an Australian squad reeling from a string of injuries, which have brought them back to the international pack.

Once seemingly in the realms of fantasy, punters will arrive on the hill and genuinely ask their mates ‘‘could they?’’ over a pre-game can of the amber.

To put it in context, as Friday’s Mercury back page read, Australia’s facing the possibility of missing out on their first final in 60 years.

If England beat New Zealand in Dunedin on Saturday night, it will significantly change the context of Sunday’s battle in Wollongong.

New Zealand and England will both be on four points, eliminating Samoa from the race and leaving Australia to make up a big gap in the points differential tally.

It would be a huge test of Samoa’s resolve to win then. But a Kiwi triumph would ensure both Australia and Samoa still have a shot at playing in the decider in Wellington on November 15.

Which brings us to the over-arching point of how the Four Nations results have made the international game more relevant. It has always suffered at the hands of the length of the NRL season and the devouring beast that is State of Origin.

But the NRL star power of the Burgess boys, James Graham and Sam Tomkins have made England a credible force.

Samoa beating Australia to make the Four Nations final would be an amazing fairytale, when you look at a player like Kyle Stanley, who only weeks ago was playing lock for the Illawarra Cutters.

He still faces an unknown future after a wretched run of injuries.

Many league types scoff at the need to have an internationally competitive product when the domestic season resulted in NSW breaking Queensland’s Origin stranglehold and South Sydney ending 43 years of pain with a premiership.

So why does it matter?

Rugby league needs to develop new revenue streams to bring money into the game and prevent regions like the Illawarra suffering any more than they already are.

A co-ordinated approach needs to be taken to expanding the game into new markets like Perth, while working with the Rugby League International Federation to boost the game’s global standing at the same time. Unfortunately it can’t be done without shaking up the television rights deal, which dictates to have 30 weeks of NRL, making the season ridiculously long when you tack a Nines tournament on at the start and a Four Nations at the end.

The great failing of the NRL’s ‘‘right game, right venue’’ strategy is that the Illawarra and South Coast, the great nursery of rugby league, deserve better than four games a year.

The Illawarra may be reliant on rugby league creating revenue in new markets, but those at League Central should remember the remarkable, ongoing contribution the region has made to the game.

If they’ve forgotten while they’re counting their pennies, they should take a look at the parade of great Australian representative players on show at WIN Stadium before kick-off on Sunday.