I was just looking at other teams' squads and thought it would be interesting to talk about them. New Caledonia's squad looks solid, definitely a strong contender again. Great stats on paper. Some to look out for: Bertrand Kaï still going and looking good; Gope-Fenepej no doubt will score at least 4 or 5 and Ligue 2 player César Zeoula. Also a couple of other players having 20+ caps at age 26.
Hopefully Krishna does well for Fiji, that'd be great to watch. It would be kinda hilarious if he knocked us out; I wonder how well he'd be received coming back to the Phoenix for preseason.
Benjamin Totori and Henry Fa'arodo, haven't heard those names in a while! Obviously another player that deserves a mention for the Solomons is Lea'alafa, what a great ASB Premiership season he's had.
Anyone want to shed some light on other players to look out for from other nations? It would be cool to discuss other countries as well.
I've found the Solomon Islands squad to be quite good. They have some good players in Fa'arodo, Totori, Lea'lafa, Naka, Feni but still lack of some pros. For that reason maybe the NC squad seems better.
On the other hand, some teams look weak. Vanuatu and PNG with almost everyone from their local leagues. IMO either of both will get through group stage. Fiji did terrible in 2012 with a similar squad, now the main difference is Farina has called 5 or 6 kids from the U20s and U23s. One thing is to suceed at age level, but another totally different is to do so against stronger oposition.
And then is Tahiti. From the 2012 squad there's Roche, Caroine, Chong Hue, Bourebare, Simon, Alvin Tehau and Vallar. Not as many as I expected. Still they should do good, considering new players like Heck, Lucas, Tissot and Teaonui Tehau.
So considering how unpredictable the Islands teams are and how little we know about them, IMO NC and the Solomon Islands have the better squads, followed by Fiji and Tahiti. Can't see Vanuatu or PNG getting any better than 3rd in their respective groups. And Samoa, which squad I haven't been able to found, will loose the 3 matches by large margins.