Aaron , if you look a little more closely at the next bunch as you call them(especially those with more than 40 ranking points) you will see that they have all had wins and losses against others in that bunch (and a few wins over the lower than 40 teams).
The teams below 40 don't seem to have had very many wins against those in the higher bunch.
Which seems to suggest that the ranking, despite a couple of apparent anomalies, in the main, ranks teams where Brett(especially):) and most of us reckon they ought to be, and as you suggest any team that can string a few wins together (especially against teams with similar ranking) could quickly skip ahead of the bunch and close the gap to PNG a NZ.
Gives me confidence that the system is sound and with a few more games overall and by some of the teams we'll see those anomalies disappear.
The best test is seeing the higher ranked team win more often than not in each match.
Bring on more games I say :)
Cam

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN