I thought Crichton was clearly their best in the games and moments that mattered and Luai and a few others played well alongside him. Though admittedly didn't watch Samoa beat up on Greece and France.I watched all games in the world cup and he was by far the best player of the tournament. I think you're being biased to prove a point rather than actually analysing what happened. Losing against Australia in the final is not even bad. He was the best player against Greece, France and England, and 3rd best against Tonga after Milford and Suaalii. Sure, Greece and France are cannon fodder, so let's ignore them. But Samoa are a team that has a very low win record in the past decade, and they beat Tonga and England when most people tipped against them. Winning against the host nation England (the team that put 60 on them in the first game) in a semi final is a lot bigger than you're alluding to. It was one of the best IRL games I've ever watched when I woke up in the middle of the night to watch it. It's not purely because of the emotion that it was special, but the historical record of being the first tier 2 nation to make a final
The SF win was massive historically and an entertaining game but I don't recall being particularly impressed with either sides performance.
Samoa's historical record before the tournament was pretty irrelevant to what the players could achieved. Their entire side had NRL experience, over half had played in an NRL grand final (big game experience). Bouncing out in the quarters or semis would have been considered a disappointing result pretournament and it was only that first loss (after being the last squad in England and little training no warm up game leading in) that tempered expectations. Many forget they actually started favourites in that first game due to the talent in their squad.
Also don't think most tipped against them in either of those finals. From memory they were slight favourites against Tonga and slight outsiders against England.
Anyway, that's not to say Luai isn't a great player. His NRL record and some standout games in Origin and finals is testament to that. He was also one part of the talent that had Samoa expected to put on a good showing in the WC. I just think the "he led them there" thing and that achievement alone overplayed.