PNG's back.

[Pippen94]

Looks like the political stunt will be announced next week.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...m/news-story/5e76338738836ec04c9d3df84a33d172

PNG confirmed as new NRL expansion team​

Papua New Guinea’s groundbreaking entry into the NRL is confirmed - but uncertainty remains surrounding whether they will be the 18th or 19th team to join the expanded competition. See the details.
Michael Carayannis, Brent Read, Peter Badel and Dean Ritchie

less than 2 min read
December 4, 2024 - 2:04PM
News Sport Network
https://archive.md/CcSLi#comments

Finley Glare & Kevin Yako are two of the brightest rugby league prospects out of PNG.
Papua New Guinea’s groundbreaking entry into the NRL is set to be announced next week. Barring any late setbacks, this masthead understands the historic expansion call has been scheduled for the end of the week and will involve Prime Ministers from both Australia and PNG.
It is understood the NRL and the federal government have finalised their landmark $600 million deal that has paved the way for PNG to join the premiership in 2028.
Talks are still ongoing with the West Australian government over plans to expand to Perth as the NRL attempts to strike a funding deal to return to the state.
However, the PNG deal is all but completed and an announcement is expected as early as Thursday. It is understood club bosses were given an update on the game’s expansion plans at a meeting on Wednesday.
PNG’s status as the game’s 18th or 19th team will hinge on whether the NRL can get a deal done with the WA government with the preference being to have a team in Perth in 2027 before expanding to PNG.

The Papua New Guinea franchise will be announced in the coming days. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
While unconfirmed, it’s expected the announcement will be made inside a Government office in the Sydney CBD.
The historic declaration will coincide with a PNG investment conference held in Sydney, which will start on Monday.
Multiple senior PNG ministers will fly to Sydney for the announcement, as will the PNG NRL bid board, led by chairman Wapu Sonk.
PNG rugby league chairman Sandis Tsaka will also attend.
It is the culmination of an epic two-year project for PNG to enter the NRL.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape first moved a motion in parliament for an independent NRL bid team to be established, led by Sonk and PNG bid chief executive Andrew Hill.

Will be great news if announced. Opposition will use this to attack government. Poorly informed people will be against it. Good for PNG, Australia & NRL tho.

 

[SirPies&Beers]

Will be great news if announced. Opposition will use this to attack government. Poorly informed people will be against it. Good for PNG, Australia & NRL tho.

opposition agreed and signed off on it too.. its bipartisan

 

[st george dragons]

Bugger. A shame that both sides signed off on this.

 

[Wb1234]

But but but

Third world country something

150 million in png govt support plus 600 million from the Aussie govt

This is a blockbuster bid

Turns out everything the anti png mob said was just bs

 

[Matt_CBY]

Congratulations to Andrew Hill and his team.

This has the potential to be huge.

 

[Wb1234]

Don’t discount the png tv rights with digicel being worth something too

The pm13 v png game got over one million subscribers watching

Telstra are making a fortune from their ownership of digicel

PNG govt will need to spend 100 million plus on the stadium too it has poor corporate facilities and security

The png govt grant of 25 million usd into the club helps as does the 12.5 million on png grassroots

 

[Wb1234]

“The government has separately allocated K50 million annually for four years to invest in grassroots program league programs.”

Actually it’s an annual investment of 50 million Kina (19 million Aussie) into grassroots

That’s a huge investment into juniors together with the Aussie govt money

 

[Matt_CBY]

They’ll need to boost their broadcast quality as well.

Too many drops out during those games played there in the post season this year.

 

[SirPies&Beers]

now that papua is in im guessing the whole 18 v 19 spiel is just a shot across the bough to get west aussie bears to hurry up and wrap it up yeah?

i expect papua to still be 19 as they need time to build necessary infrastructure and things of that sort to be ready. v'landys will probably announce timelines rather than numerical order of entries. only a guess though.

 

[Wb1234]

now that papua is in im guessing the whole 18 v 19 spiel is just a shot across the bough to get west aussie bears to hurry up and wrap it up yeah?

i expect papua to still be 19 as they need time to build necessary infrastructure and things of that sort to be ready. v'landys will probably announce timelines rather than numerical order of entries. only a guess though.

Still think Perth gets announced in the next two weeks unless the wa govt have a last minute sook about something

 

[Canard]

Getting a comittement of $38M out of one of the poorest nations on Earth, is certainly going to be interesting.

I mean it's really just more Australian tax dollars in the end.

 

[Canard]

Don’t discount the png tv rights with digicel being worth something too

The pm13 v png game got over one million subscribers watching

Telstra are making a fortune from their ownership of digicel

PNG govt will need to spend 100 million plus on the stadium too it has poor corporate facilities and security

The png govt grant of 25 million usd into the club helps as does the 12.5 million on png grassroots

$100M on corporate facilities.

Haha, f**k me

 

[Wb1234]

Seeing all the dopes who said png would never get a team be salty just makes this win even sweeter

 

[Pippen94]

Still think Perth gets announced in the next two weeks unless the wa govt have a last minute sook about something

Seems very close to being done

 

[Perth Tiger]

RL definitely pushes the boundaries. Had the first transatlantic team for the Super League and now first professional team in a comp from a significantly lower economic partner. Hopefully it is a success

 

[SirPies&Beers]

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/12/04/both-nations-have-a-strong-affinity-png-nrl-team-could-be-confirmed-within-days/

 

[SirPies&Beers]

PNG confirmed as new NRL expansion team - but when is still undecided

Papua New Guinea's entry into the NRL is finally set to be announced next week in Sydney - but in a bombshell development, they may not be the next franchise to feature in the competition.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Foreign Legion]

PNG minister says $600m NRL deal ‘nothing to do with China’

PNG’s foreign minister said its government had set aside more than $38 million to begin building facilities and a deal could be announced as early as next week.

www.smh.com.au

 

[SirPies&Beers]

NRL's PNG team expected to be confirmed next week

The NRL is expected to confirm as early as next week a team from Papua New Guinea will enter the competition later this decade.

www.espn.com.au

every papuan article mentions west aussie bears. if that isn't blowtorch i dont know what it is.

come on cookie make it happen and sign the dotted line.

 

[SirPies&Beers]

PNG's Gov't Funded NRL Entry To Be Announced Before Xmas | The Sporting Base

PNG's gov't funded NRL entry to be announced before Xmas The new PNG NRL team, which will receive $600 million in government funding from Australia to run,

thesportingbase.com