PNG's back.

[Canard]

Same can be said for quite a few Sydney club.

Why not kick them out?

All of them rely on the annual grant as their main form of revenue and many would fold without it. Relocating two or three Sydney clubs interstate or relegating them down to NSW Cup would not have a negative impact on television ratings. The loss of Balmain, Sydney Wests and Sydney Norths didn't kill interest in RL 23 years ago and the game has never been richer. @Perth Red and I have shown you how little the corporate sector values the Sydney clubs.

If we're going to discount PNG for economic reasons then a few Sydney clubs will need to go. Obviously PNG is far poorer and has more logistical problems, but it doesn't change the fact that our game props up unviable Sydney clubs with the money generated by profitable interstate clubs and sets the bar far higher for non-Sydne clubs. Many of Sydney's clubs play at outdated venues not fit for professional sport in 2022 and aren't getting an upgrade, so there's a strong argument for kicking them out in that alone.

Sydney clubs generate TV money, merchandise and gate receipts. The quantum of which can be argued to be to little or not enough.

PNG can't offer any of this.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Sydney clubs generate TV money, merchandise and gate receipts. The quantum of which can be argued to be to little or not enough.

PNG can't offer any of this.

You're right about that. PNG is at least 30 or 40 years away from being viable.

Perth is the best option for the 18th licence.

 

[Wb1234]

 

[Vee]

Why WTFs? Have they signed him or something?

 

[Canard]

"We're not ready": Olam speaks out on potential 18th team bid

The NRL will likely expand to 18 teams in the coming years.

www.google.com

Having no school and junior footy in PNG indicates where the focus should sit initially

 

[Perth Red]

PNGRL and NRL need to sit down and put a long term strategy in place for the game there. Did I say strategy? Lol forgot we are talking about the NRL.

 

[mikail-eagle]

"We're not ready": Olam speaks out on potential 18th team bid

The NRL will likely expand to 18 teams in the coming years.

www.google.com

Having no school and junior footy in PNG indicates where the focus should sit initially

There is schools and junior footy being played. Its just not well coordinated on a National level.

Maybe in Justin's home province there was noting at all but in East New Britain where I grew up we played touch footy first before actual league from U14's and up. These all fed to the East New Britain Rugby League Associations footy clubs and eventually to the Rabaul Gurias Digicel Cup Team. The Boas Brothers, Isreal Eliab, Wartovo Puara jnr, Epel Kapinias all came through these system before ending up at the Hunters and becoming Kumuls.

Its the same in Port Moresby, Lae , Kimbe and the Central Province etc.

The Albert Brothers Wellington and Stanton came through the Lae Schools and Lae Tigers system before heading to Penrith and to where they are now.

I think the Lae Tigers have had enough of the inefficiency at the PNGRFL to coordinate it better hence trying to set up something for themselves. https://www.thenational.com.pg/chow-sets-up-links-with-sharks/

 

[mikail-eagle]

Maybe some NRL scouts should come over and watch a few games.

Schools rugby league carnival in Lae gets timely boost – The National

www.thenational.com.pg

Schools rugby league carnival in Lae gets timely boost​

THE Lae Rugby League ground will come alive with the hosting of the schools rugby league carnival on the weekend of Nov 25-27.
Sister companies Prima Smallgoods and Lae Biscuit have come on board to support the carnival that will be known as Prima/Lae Biscuit Schools Rugby League Carnival.
Prima Smallgoods is sponsoring the carnival with K20,000.
Prima national sales and marketing manager Kola Geri said apart from the sponsorship they would also get Lae Biscuit Company to come in with sponsorship.
“It is a good concept, I know schools will be excited especially for the kids to represent their schools,” he said. “How the carnival is organised putting the schools into zones – city and country. It’s more like a mini State Of Origin for Lae. This will make the carnival exciting and we’re expecting a lot of people to turn up and watch.”
Lae Schoolboys Rugby League coordinator Dennis Miall said the idea to host the carnival came about after the cancellation of the national zone championships by the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League.
He thanked the sponsors for their support of junior rugby league and acknowledged schools and teachers who had committed their time to making the tournament was a success.

 

[Wb1234]

"We're not ready": Olam speaks out on potential 18th team bid

The NRL will likely expand to 18 teams in the coming years.

www.google.com

Having no school and junior footy in PNG indicates where the focus should sit initially

 

[docbrown]

PNG should be aiming to get a second QRL side as their next step.

 

[The Great Dane]

PNG should be aiming to get a second QRL side as their next step.

Who's going to pay for that?

The Hunter are reliant on the Australian government and the NRL has already had to give them handouts to keep them going, so where is the money going to come from for a second team.

What PNG should be doing is setting aside their dreams of teams in Australian leagues for the time being to focus on developing their local leagues as much as possible, alongside finding ways to make more revenue from them, and working with the NRL and clubs to facilitate stronger pro-pathways to the NRL for their players.

 

[docbrown]

Who's going to pay for that?

The Hunter are reliant on the Australian government and the NRL has already had to give them handouts to keep them going, so where is the money going to come from for a second team.

What PNG should be doing is setting aside their dreams of teams in Australian leagues for the time being to focus on developing their local leagues as much as possible, alongside finding ways to make more revenue from them, and working with the NRL and clubs to facilitate stronger pro-pathways to the NRL for their players.

The NRL and both governments should pay. It’s a very legitimate form of foreign investment in a developing economy, particularly considering the status of the sport amongst locals.

There is only so much local revenue in PNG to sustain the local league. If you scrapped the Hunters, most PNG players will just go overlooked by professional organisations in Australia. You want a more pro pathways? A second team guarantees that.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

The NRL and both governments should pay. It’s a very legitimate form of foreign investment in a developing economy, particularly considering the status of the sport amongst locals.

There is only so much local revenue in PNG to sustain the local league. If you scrapped the Hunters, most PNG players will just go overlooked by professional organisations in Australia. You want a more pro pathways? A second team guarantees that.

In the long-term when there's more money in PNG it would be good to have a second team. Until then the plan should be to get as many underage teams in the QRL system to boost their development.

 

[The Great Dane]

The NRL and both governments should pay. It’s a very legitimate form of foreign investment in a developing economy, particularly considering the status of the sport amongst locals.

There is only so much local revenue in PNG to sustain the local league. If you scrapped the Hunters, most PNG players will just go overlooked by professional organisations in Australia. You want a more pro pathways? A second team guarantees that.

Academies, scouts, development officers, and partnership programs also guarantee strong pro pathways, and they're more effective at developing players and an order of magnitude less expensive than unsustainable semi-pro teams.

It's only a matter of time before the Australian government pulls funding for the Hunters, after that who knows what happens, but it almost certainly won't be good. One unsustainable political project is bad enough, two is just plain stupid.

BTW, who said anything about local revenue? One of the biggest things you could do for the PNGRL would be to help them raise the production level of Digicel Cup to a point where it'd interest broadcasters internationally (i.e. in Australia). That's something we take for granted, but to them it'd be a significant source of revenue that they can't currently access.

 

[docbrown]

Academies, scouts, development officers, and partnership programs also guarantee strong pro pathways, and they're more effective at developing players and an order of magnitude less expensive than unsustainable semi-pro teams.

It's only a matter of time before the Australian government pulls funding for the Hunters, after that who knows what happens, but it almost certainly won't be good. One unsustainable political project is bad enough, two is just plain stupid.

BTW, who said anything about local revenue? One of the biggest things you could do for the PNGRL would be to help them raise the production level of Digicel Cup to a point where it'd interest broadcasters internationally (i.e. in Australia). That's something we take for granted, but to them it'd be a significant source of revenue that they can't currently access.

All of those things are good. But you know what? Australian coaches and clubs have had the opportunity to scout PNG for decades and have been extremely lazy about it. The Hunters are basically bringing the players to the scouts and coaches. Without them it’ll just go back to being forgotten about.

 

[mikail-eagle]

Who's going to pay for that?

The Hunter are reliant on the Australian government and the NRL has already had to give them handouts to keep them going, so where is the money going to come from for a second team.

Can you provide a link confirming that the Australian Government is funding the Hunters and how much that is worth ?

I'm asking because back here in PNG there are big arguments about who is actually funding them. And a large number of the PNG working class (a few friends of mine included) are always harping on about their tax money being used by the PNG Government to fund the Team, which I think is false.

But although the PNG Government does not give funding from annual Budget allocations, it still gives plenty through the Sponsorship given by State Owned Enterprises such as the National Gaming Control Board (Gambling authority) and Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (LNG Gas) and other state entities.

And then there is the long list of private companies listed here : https://www.pnghunters.com/about/partners/

 

[Perth Red]

It's only a matter of time before the Australian government pulls funding for the Hunters, after that who knows what happens, but it almost certainly won't be good. One unsustainable political project is bad enough, two is just plain stupid.

This is their revenue for 2021. You can see the vast majority if it comes from Govt grant and NRl funding. One of the interesting things is they are paying over a 1/4 of their revenue on 'consultants fees'? I wonder what thats for?

PNG HUNTERS 2021 ANNUAL REPORT

The 2021 Annual Report for the Papua New Guinea Hunters Rugby Football Club Limited.

issuu.com

 

[The Great Dane]

All of those things are good. But you know what? Australian coaches and clubs have had the opportunity to scout PNG for decades and have been extremely lazy about it. The Hunters are basically bringing the players to the scouts and coaches. Without them it’ll just go back to being forgotten about.

Who said anything about the clubs?

That sort of project should be organised by the NRL as part of a strategic plan, not be left to the handful of clubs whom have the time and resources to go in individually and without any organisation.

Besides multiple clubs since at least the 90s have tried to set up dedicated programs to source players from PNG, and all of them have hit a brick wall when it comes to getting the players they find visas. So to say they have been extremely lazy about it is just wrong, it's just that any attempts that have been made are lucky to get 1 in 10 of the players they scout onto Australian shores, which has made it an unsustainable prospect.
Visas will probably still be a problem, however in the current political climate, and with the NRL's pull, you may be able to get the government to cooperate in creating a program to help make getting Papuan players visas easier.

Every time this discussion comes up I always come back to the same point though; why spend that kind of money in places like PNG and the other PI's when the grassroots and junior pathways are so underdeveloped within most of Australia?

For a similar investment of money and resources, and significantly less headaches, you could see similar, if not better, results simply by investing in creating pro-pathways in the underserved regions of country NSW and QLD, and that's without even addressing the almost totally untapped potential in the other states and territories. So why bother at all with expensive international projects when there's still so much that could be done here in Australia?

Investment within Australia would have significantly higher commercial return as well, but that's a whole other angle to come at it from.

 

[Billythekid]

Who said anything about the clubs?

That sort of project should be organised by the NRL as part of a strategic plan, not be left to the handful of clubs whom have the time and resources to go in individually and without any organisation.

Besides multiple clubs since at least the 90s have tried to set up dedicated programs to source players from PNG, and all of them have hit a brick wall when it comes to getting the players they find visas. So to say they have been extremely lazy about it is just wrong, it's just that any attempts that have been made are lucky to get 1 in 10 of the players they scout onto Australian shores, which has made it an unsustainable prospect.
Visas will probably still be a problem, however in the current political climate, and with the NRL's pull, you may be able to get the government to cooperate in creating a program to help make getting Papuan players visas easier.

Every time this discussion comes up I always come back to the same point though; why spend that kind of money in places like PNG and the other PI's when the grassroots and junior pathways are so underdeveloped within most of Australia?

For a similar investment of money and resources, and significantly less headaches, you could see similar, if not better, results simply by investing in creating pro-pathways in the underserved regions of country NSW and QLD, and that's without even addressing the almost totally untapped potential in the other states and territories. So why bother at all with expensive international projects when there's still so much that could be done here in Australia?

Investment within Australia would have significantly higher commercial return as well, but that's a whole other angle to come at it from.

To me the answer is because of the huge potential. PNG has a large population and there is very little competition from other sports. If we can actually get a decent pathway it could totally change the game.

I totally agree though that it makes a lot of sense to spend more strengthening local pathways which have long been underfunded (and is important when we’re competing with other local codes for talent).

 

[The Great Dane]

To me the answer is because of the huge potential. PNG has a large population and there is very little competition from other sports. If we can actually get a decent pathway it could totally change the game.

In the grand scheme of things the amount of Papuan players in the NRL will have little to no impact on the game whatsoever.

Look I'm not having a go at PNG, the nature of their situation just is what it is, but PNG isn't going to develop into a significant commercial market for the NRL for a very long time, maybe not ever, and it doesn't matter how Papuan players the NRL brings through.

The same can not be said of VIC, WA, SA, NZ, and potentially other more exotic markets, where concerted efforts to grow the sport can and will result in significant returns in the future.