What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

How to Help/Fix PNG

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,292
I've said it before, the fact there's only a handful of PNG players at NRL clubs is laughable. 6 Million people, all RL nuts and yet there are few just over the sea in Australia. Smacks of laziness really, I know there are VISA issues but surely not to the extent where NRL clubs have an excuse not to even look over there.

I'd like to hear some idea's on how to improve the PNG national team and embrace the country as RL fans, Australia could be helping them a lot more with not much effort IMO.

A few ideas of my own:
  • A QLD Cup side - PNG Vipers
  • An annual U-16,18 & 20 trial to bring the best juniors together, NRL scouts will be there because:
  • The introduction of a quota of atleast 2 PNG born players for every NRL team's Toyota Cup Squad.
  • Salary Cap concessions for current PNG Internationals
  • The Introduction of a "Kokoda Cup", a 3 team mid-season tournament with Australia and NZ.
The QLD Cup team should be aiming for entry ASAP IMO, hopefully atleast by the next World Cup. This would create a team for PNG's best domestic players to strut their stuff, it would also by enormously well supported obviously. If the team can be sucessful it is a big ticked box for an NRL bid down the line.

The introductions of the Toyota Cup quota would be a long term development but if it's stuck with it will pay huge dividends in 5-10 years. Out of squads of 25, 2 really isn't that many and can't see why clubs couldn't/wouldn't go for more ocassionally. The best juniors in the country can all be gathered for a tournament/festival and NRL scouts can work from there.

The Salary Cap concessions would allow clubs to hopefully look at more and ones that have some already get rewarded. Not suggesting it be much, just enough to encourage players to stick with a developing national team.

The Kokoda Cup wouldn't be too hard to set up IMO, if Origin went to stand-alone weekends it would make it alot easier to have NZ V PNG on the same weekend as the first origin, then it's just a matter of finding a weekend for Aus V PNG. Ideally if origin went to stand-alone weekends a Pacific Cup could also be played with the final at the end of season. When PNG get a new stadium it would be great to have the tournament as 1home, 1 away per team. Australia play in PNG, NZ play in Australia and PNG play in NZ, the just shuffle it the next year.

Week 1
  • Origin 1
  • NZ V PNG (Kokoda Cup)
  • Tonga V Samoa (Pacific Cup 4V5)
Week 2
  • Origin 2
  • PNG V Tonga (Pacific Cup 1V4)
  • Fiji V Cook Islands (Pacific Cup 2V3)
Week 3
  • Origin 3
  • NZ V Pacific Islands (Tonga, Samoa, Fiji & Cook Is.)
Anyway those are just a few ideas I think could do a world of good. If I'm being realistic an NRL team is a long way off. The NRL should set a list of goals for the PNG bid and say in the meantime we'll help by doing this, this and this...

Two things people complain about are lack of player depth in the NRL and the lack of a 4th genuine competitor on International level, well if done correctly PNG could very well be the answer to both of those problems.
 

roopy

Referee
Messages
27,980
Without our help they are getting better all the time.

They are starting from a very low base, but their economy is growing at an incredible rate because of their resources and commodity prices.

It's only in the last 6 or 7 years that they have had the resources to have their own national semi-pro comp, and you only have to look at their results over that time to see that they get better every year.

In ten years from now the size of their economy will have doubled, and so will the quality of their RL comp.
 

Hoofhearted

Juniors
Messages
719
I think with countries such as PNG they should look at the way the Wallabies operate in Rah Rah. If you think about it, there is barely enough players in Australia to field 4 professional teams in a competition that only lasts 3 months. Yet the main focus they have is on the national team, hence they have won a couple of world cups against countries like South Africa and New Zealand that are fanatical about the sport.
Basically what I'm saying is still keep growing the domestic product, but at the same time have a setup that is developing a national team in the same way NRL clubs build a squad, possibly identify players in each position and get them into the NRL, this way over time they will be fielding a full strength NRL standard national team. It doesn't matter how many quality players you may have at your disposal as long as the 17 that are playing at any one time are of good standard to be competitive and even start winning. Once they have a strong national team things will grow even faster.
 

Fonzie

Juniors
Messages
40
Good thread - PNG probably has more league players than Australia, England and NZ combined, but incredibly we have never been able (or really tried) to harness that. The problem seems to be getting the elite players from that massive junior base access to world class coaching and training facilities so that they can develop at the pace of the big three nations.

I think that in the short/medium term PNG needs to 'outsource' its high performance to Australia (similar to the way that NZ has done). We need to get the best PNG players playing in the Australian competitions, with access to the resources NRL and Qld Cup sides have for coaching and physical development. Salary cap concessions, quotas and other things mentioned in this thread would certainly help, but I get the feeling that the visa issue is actually the big one - anyone know any more about that?

I would also like to see a PNG junior rep academy (hopefully funded by the Aussie Govt) set up in Qld, with the top say 25 PNG juniors in each age group from u/16s up based at the academy and trained by top Aussie coaches to take part in Qld junior rep competitions.

In terms of internationals, my preference would be a mid season (same time as origin) tri series between NZ, PNG and a Pacific Island side, with qualification for the 4N on the line.
 

docbrown

Coach
Messages
11,448
Well the long term 20-25 year plan is to get a pro-NRL club. The reason the Vipers left the QLD cup was the financial cost to all clubs, so not sure how that will work.

The Pacific Cup should move to February/March before NRL & Domestic comps begins with 2 pools of 4 teams (8 sides total), six hosted in Port Moresby, five hosted in Suva and the Tonga v Samoa game in Samoa. Then the winner of the two pools play each other.

I'd rather see PNG brought into the end of season tournament rather than a mid season one, so that every 2 years in the southern hemisphere we have:

AUSTRALIA
ENGLAND (a touring side)
NEW ZEALAND
PACIFIC ISLANDS COMBINED
PAPUA NEW GUINEA

But one round of this can be played after origin - AUS v NZ, PNG v PAC.
 

chrisc101

Juniors
Messages
265
Great thread, and agree with all points. I find the current state of PNG players in the NRL very distressing.

PNG has to be in the top 5 for all RLIF and NRL priorities. People can be so short sighted with this. The potential to have a 4th top tier international team is just waiting to be grabbed, and the payoff massive. There is no reason why there can't be 50 PNG players in the NRL in 10 years. And the great thing about this, is that they are not artifical numbers (like the AFL expansion in South Africa), this is a RL loving country.

As outlined we need PNG juniors in our system. The school system would be a great place to start. NRL should subsidise school scholarships for the best juniors to move, study and play in Australia.
 

franklin2323

Immortal
Messages
33,546
PNG seem to want to handle things themselves. A couple of decent admin people and a good coach is a start.

The main thing they need is to get a full strength team on the field. I could 20 odd not playing 4 nations
 

hutch

First Grade
Messages
6,810
Week 1
  • Origin 1
  • NZ V PNG (Kokoda Cup)
  • Tonga V Samoa (Pacific Cup 4V5)
Week 2
  • Origin 2
  • PNG V Tonga (Pacific Cup 1V4)
  • Fiji V Cook Islands (Pacific Cup 2V3)
Week 3
  • Origin 3
  • NZ V Pacific Islands (Tonga, Samoa, Fiji & Cook Is.)

moving origin to stand alone weekends is definately the answer and not just for the improvement of origin, but for the improvement of the international scene. something similar to your schedule must be implemented for a few reasons.
firstly, it gives all nations the chance to play rep and test matches when australia get the chance to play origin.
secondly, it gives players with dual nationality the fair chance to choose who they wish to represent, they can make a choice knowing they are guaranteed meaningful games every year and stick with their choice for their entire career.
 

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,292
moving origin to stand alone weekends is definately the answer and not just for the improvement of origin, but for the improvement of the international scene. something similar to your schedule must be implemented for a few reasons.
firstly, it gives all nations the chance to play rep and test matches when australia get the chance to play origin.
secondly, it gives players with dual nationality the fair chance to choose who they wish to represent, they can make a choice knowing they are guaranteed meaningful games every year and stick with their choice for their entire career.

One thing that constantly gets spewed in the media is that the "minnow" nations barely have any games. It's not true but it's beleivable to the outsider because they get no media coverage and very few against big name opposition like Australia and NZ. If PNG were to have an annual tri-series with Aus and NZ and a combined PI side an annual game V NZ then it would go a long way between PNG becoming competitive with the "big 3" also would help in chosing PI countries to stick with their countries if depending on which one they get games on Origin weekends, which all of them would get atleast one.


PNG seem to want to handle things themselves. A couple of decent admin people and a good coach is a start.

The main thing they need is to get a full strength team on the field. I could 20 odd not playing 4 nations

That's all well and good but Australia could be doing a hell of alot more to help them, without too much effort at all. It really is a golden oppurtunity going to waste, player depth is a problem yet we are ignoring hundreds of thousands of prospects playing in PNG.

PNG has more people than Queensland and look what side we produce.

Great thread, and agree with all points. I find the current state of PNG players in the NRL very distressing.

PNG has to be in the top 5 for all RLIF and NRL priorities. People can be so short sighted with this. The potential to have a 4th top tier international team is just waiting to be grabbed, and the payoff massive. There is no reason why there can't be 50 PNG players in the NRL in 10 years. And the great thing about this, is that they are not artifical numbers (like the AFL expansion in South Africa), this is a RL loving country.

As outlined we need PNG juniors in our system. The school system would be a great place to start. NRL should subsidise school scholarships for the best juniors to move, study and play in Australia.

Spot on, needs to be addressed immediatly IMO, so much to gain with so little effort but you'd swear nobodies given it a second thought.

The main two are getting juniors into the Toyota Cup and regular internationals to help the national team develop. It really should be that hard and in 5-10 years if done properly I can't see why PNG shouldn't be able to beat the big 3 on the odd occasion.
 

flamin

Juniors
Messages
2,046
http://www.pngnrlbid.com/index.php?page_id=87

By LESLIE OMARO


THE PNG All Schools rugby league rollout program will start the New Guinea Island leg this weekend following the successfull programs launched in Lae, Goroka and Mendi in August.

A full strength PNG NRL Bid team led by general manager Bev Broughton will once again host sports safety, coaching and refereeing courses for school teachers including physical education teachers and interested individuals attached with running rugby league competitions as coaches, referees or sports medical persons.

The NGI program will kick start in Bougainville on October 9to 11, then Rabaul will have their programs run from October 12 and 13.

The NGI program will end in Kimbe with courses to be held on October 15. The reason for the All Schools Rugby League roll out program across the country is

TO develop and foster rugby league talent in all schools throughout PNG
TO improve retention rates, encourage regular school attendance and completion of education through the incentive of participation in PNG All Schools League program
PROVIDE opportunities for PNG school students to aspire and succeed as NRL and international players
UP skill teachers with technical qualifications in coaching and refereeing
PROVIDE pathways to motivate youth and teachers to contribute to their school and communities
TO use PNG All Schools rugby league program to deliver positive messages on health, wellbeing, fitness and personal development.
STRENGTHEN socially acceptable codes of conduct, values and behavioural norms in schools which also impact the wider community
AND to enhance personal development, academic achievement, healthy lifestyle and community citizenships
The NRL Bid will deliver in the all schools program, accreditation programs for teachers in coaching refereeing and sports safety, the INSAPC National Insurance Cover Scheme, 2010 PNG All Schools Rugby League Carnival, 2010 PNG All Schools Rugby League U16s National Shield representative side selection, 2010 TOPS Camp — Talent ID camp for U16s, 2011 PNG All Schools National Carnival, Planning for 2011 Sing Sing Tribe youth performing arts program and the International Rugby League Development/Education scholarship to Australia for top talent.

In related news, schools in NCD, Lae, Goroka and Mendi have been urged to start planning their knock out rugby league competitions in preparation for the All Schools Rugby League competition in November.

The schools visited in those centres in August can call Aquila Emil at the PNG NRL Bid office on 325 9499 to get an All Schools Carnival registration form.

The processes are being developed. What we need now are pathways into the Australian competition.
 
Last edited:

Billythekid

First Grade
Messages
6,562
The important thing is to start getting PNG players into both the NRL and superleague, with the longer term goal of getting a team into the NRL and improving their own comps.

I think PNG is going to be the source of the next wave of juniors for rugby league (much like what NZ has been). There are more and more islanders playing across all grades and i can see a similar thing happening with PNG.
 
Top