It's why they admit to being rendered "speechless" when they arrived in Wollongong to meet the stars of those hazy 30-second clips in the flesh after catching the eye of Dragons recruitment manager Ben Haran on a trip to Samoa in May.

The pair were standouts in a four-day camp run by the Dragons - in conjunction with the NRL - that put almost 300 hopefuls through their paces with the hope of earning a trip to Australia to train alongside its NRL squad.

"You've got to have Sky TV back home to watch it, so we mostly watch it on YouTube, especially highlights," Lemisio said.

"Peter Mata'utia is one of our favourites and it's great to meet them in person, especially Benji Marshall. He was one of my idols growing up, so it's been great to meet him in person and see how he actually does things."

More than 30 per cent of NRL players are of Polynesian heritage and Toa Samoa's competitive performances at the recent Four Nations has seen Samoa emerge as the genuine fourth power in international rugby league.

Yet across the Pacific, the island remains a largely untapped resource where rugby union is still the undisputed king.

"Most of us guys born in Samoa play union, rugby league's a bit of a second choice," Lemisio said.

"Union is taking over a lot of the communities, but hopefully we can go home and show the kids over there that there is another choice and that rugby league's a great game for them to try."

Though rugby may be the No 1 choice in Samoa, the number of NRL clubs, including the Dragons, looking to dip their toe in the rich Polynesian talent pool could bring a change in the tide, says Haran.

"That was the whole philosophy with us doing it. The Pacific nations play a huge part in our sport.

"We thought it was a good opportunity to go over to Samoa and do some work on the ground there. I think it's definitely an opportunity the NRL can look at with other clubs.

"The support we had from the NRL in regards to conducting the exercise was vital and we're obviously very thankful for that.

"It was an opportunity we saw as one we could build on in the future if we can go down that path again and it's a model which other clubs could possibly adopt in other Pacific nations as well," he said.

Haran said that during the training block the two players trained with the club's NRL and NYC squads, as well as clubs in the local Illawarra league with a view to furthering their opportunities in Australia.