When will PNG players get a chance?

[mikail-eagle]

Why did they leave the other Boas brother out?
I thought he was a pretty handy player as well?

Not sure why. And you could also add the other Albert Brother and Stargoth Amean to that list.

 

[bazza]

On the original issue would it be due to immigration issues.
Most non-Australians in the NRL are from NZ where people are free to travel between. So a NZ citizen has many options to make it in the NRL:
1. play junior RL and be picked up by the warriors system
2. Move to Australia as teams by an NRL team with no visa/immigration issues
3. could come to Australia off their own bat and try and make an NRL team. They would be free to play in any local league.

The PNG players can't come to Australia themselves and I would imagine their would be visa restrictions to bring kids or players with no high-level experience. I would imagine that if an NRL team picked up a young PNG player to play reserves for a few years they would be taking a bigger risk than a similar NZ player who they can bring over for free and send home if it doesn't work out

The few english players have tended to have a few seasons experience in SL making them less risky and easier to navigate visa issues

 

[East Coast Tiger]

There are visa difficulties but it can't be that much of a hurdle.

Hunters players have gone to clubs like Redcliffe and Townsville in the past couple of years. And some have gone to second tier English clubs too. Surely NRL and SL clubs can manage it.