The Samoans have wrapped up their training camp in Apia and will arrive for the tournament in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday.
Easthope says he is pleased with the way his team’s preparations went.
“I think the training camp was as good as I could hope for.
“It was intense with two sessions a day, and physically we pushed the boys to the boundaries of their limit,” he says.
“They are as fit as they have ever been, and they are ready to compete with the regions’ best teams.”
Easthope believes some of his players have also gained valuable experience prior to the training camp.
“We had a very important tour of New Zealand in March, and some of our players were involved in the OFC Champions League in May,” he says.
“I’m confident they are well prepared.”
The coach also insists that his players have become tactically more aware following assistance from the team’s new technical analyst Stuart Pyne.
“Stuart’s arrival was beneficial for the team,” says Easthope.
“He is very tactically minded, and he gave us a second set of eyes in terms of checking and evaluating our system and plans.
“The boys all understand their role as well as our model, our game plan and our philosophy.”
The Samoans will go into their second OFC Nation Cup campaign with an aim to improve on their debut performance four years ago.
During the 2012 edition of the tournament Samoa suffered three heavy defeats, which saw them conceding 24 times while scoring only once.
Easthope is hoping that all the hard work the team has done over the past few months will pay dividends in PNG.
“We will go there to win matches, or at least to pick up some points which we need if we want direct qualification for the Nations Cup in four years.”
“I think we will be competitive if we stay focused for the entire 90 minutes.
“We can’t afford lapses of concentration against any of our opponents in PNG.”
Samoa will face defending champions Tahiti in their opening Group A match on 29 May.

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