Fiji are looking into doing this too.
On the face of it you wouldn't think Fiji would have the local talent to compete at this level, but if they drafted in players like Groome, Vunakece, Wes Naiqama and others who play at this level in other sides they could make a very competitive side and introduce players to Australian competition.

Where would Fiji RL find $2million a year?

Quote ="JB Down Under"Where would Fiji RL find $2million a year?'" www.mailife.com.fj/vodafone-rene ... onsorship/ Deals like this with Vodafone will certainly help.

Quote ="JB Down Under"Where would Fiji RL find $2million a year?'" www.mailife.com.fj/vodafone-rene ... onsorship/ Deals like this with Vodafone will certainly help.

Still a big gap that they would find impossible to fill financially at the moment. They would be a good 10 years plus away from coming close to having enough qland cup standard players to form a team. Be good to see eventually though.

Unlike PNG, Fiji has a thriving tourism industry, and it would pay for them to encourage sports tourism. Even if they were just encouraging the 50k Fijians living in Australia to travel home more often.
In short, it would take a government grant to get it happening and that isn't out of the question at all.
As to player strength, the local comp couldn't produce a competitive side right now, but if you could get all the Fijian talent in the lower grades in Australia to commit they could win the qld cup this year - and putting the two sources together - they could get a side together that would do the job and have unlimited potential for improvement.
Players like Marika Koroibete and Etu Nabuli show that there are guys over there who just need some coaching and some competition and they can quickly rise to NRL standard.
It wouldn't be easy to get this happening, but it is far from impossible.

Hunters won their first ever home game today, surprised to see the ground not that full.

Editorial in "The National" newspaper, calling the Hunters a rallying call for the nation. www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/65096 Might seem a bit over the top to us, but for a country that has never had sporting success at anything, if they go on to win the Qld cup this year the whole country will go nuts.

Editorial in "The National" newspaper, calling the Hunters a rallying call for the nation. www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/65096 Might seem a bit over the top to us, but for a country that has never had sporting success at anything, if they go on to win the Qld cup this year the whole country will go nuts.

Can't find any mention of the shop that was selling tickets and ran out, so it was torched by the public. Not in any papers anywhere.

Dion Aiye, the PNG Kumuls 5/8 from the world cup, has joined the Hunters.
I think that takes it up to 9 Kumuls in the squad.

WHAT


Headline news....surely



This is like the FL Conference in soccer accepting Luxemburg to their comp......a worthy gesture but nothing more.

Round 3 result

PNG HUNTERS 46 (George Benson 2, Noel Zemming 2, Adex Wera, Thompson Teteh, Roger Laka, Willie Minoga tries; Noel Zemming 6, Roger Laka goals) def CQ CAPRAS 14 (Rhys Williams 2, Grant Rogers tries; Theeran Pearson goal) at Kalabond Oval, Kokopo.

www.pngfacts.com/5/post/2014/03/ ... dards.html An article talking about the more professional approach of the Hunters compared to the other Qld cup sides. The Hunters basically have players from all over PNG in permanent fulltime training, while other sides have 3 or 4 training sessions a week arranged around their work. The Hunters lost a pre season game to the Capras, and have now improved enough to give them a bit of a towelling up. I think it's clear that the Hunters will get better and better as they continue to train fulltime and to play every week against good sides. It's early days, but I think they are on track to win the Qld cup and play the winners of the NSW cup in the leadup game to the NRL grandfinal in front of 80k people.

www.pngfacts.com/5/post/2014/03/ ... dards.html An article talking about the more professional approach of the Hunters compared to the other Qld cup sides. The Hunters basically have players from all over PNG in permanent fulltime training, while other sides have 3 or 4 training sessions a week arranged around their work. The Hunters lost a pre season game to the Capras, and have now improved enough to give them a bit of a towelling up. I think it's clear that the Hunters will get better and better as they continue to train fulltime and to play every week against good sides. It's early days, but I think they are on track to win the Qld cup and play the winners of the NSW cup in the leadup game to the NRL grandfinal in front of 80k people.

From today, home games will be broadcast live across PNG. www.pngfacts.com/5/post/2014/03/ ... -live.html

From today, home games will be broadcast live across PNG. www.pngfacts.com/5/post/2014/03/ ... -live.html

Unfortunately, PNG lost their first game over the weekend... in PNG.

there is a forum for this by the way.........

There's an 'Other Sports' section on this forum, but that doesn't stop you continually talking about RU on the Virtual Terrace.

Find me a union thread that I started on this VT forum?
PNG belong in either the NRL graveyard or international forum.

PNG should be at the centre of every rugby league fan's thinking, as should be France. They are at the centre of international development plans, and constitute a potential goldmine for Super League talent scouts. That is why matters pertaining to PNG and France belong in the Virtual Terrace.

PNG and France are that MASSIVE they should have their own entire website

Here GF you can watch highlights of the game at the qrl website.



The commentary is superb and the Pride have a big "Irisherman" playing for them.

You can watch a livestream of the Hunters V Easts game from 3pm Sydney/5am London time tomorrow. www.qrl.com.au/interactive/live-stream.html It should be interesting to see how the PNG forwards cope with Giant Melbourne Storm prop Mitch Garbutt.

You can watch a livestream of the Hunters V Easts game from 3pm Sydney/5am London time tomorrow. www.qrl.com.au/interactive/live-stream.html It should be interesting to see how the PNG forwards cope with Giant Melbourne Storm prop Mitch Garbutt.

Video highlights of the 20 all draw with Easts Tigers here; www.qrl.com.au/news/2014/03/31/r ... v_png.html Some good long range tries by the Hunters.

Video highlights of the 20 all draw with Easts Tigers here; www.qrl.com.au/news/2014/03/31/r ... v_png.html Some good long range tries by the Hunters.

Which is why it's a mystery to me why all these SL clubs are partnering with American RL clubs who play a tiny season with sportsmen from other games. France and PNG actually have proper RL clubs and bags of untapped talent.

I suspect that if several Super League and NRL clubs between them bought up all the talent in the PNG Hunters team for Super League 2015, the Hunters would not be too hard done by. They would still be able to recruit new talent and replace the lost players easily and field a team just as good as the current one in 2015. I suspect that NRL scouts are on the lookout at the Hunters team already, but SL clubs not.

We should also remember that a talented French teenager named Theo Fages came to Britain on his own initiative, not because Salford had scouted him.

It just requires a bit of initiative from Super League clubs' managements to see that scouting France and PNG is one new way to go to improve the SL talent pool.

If you scout the French Elite leagues you'll see that a great many of the "stars" in that comp are actually 3rd grade ANZAC/PI players. BTW, calling it the Elite comp doesn't make it Elite....kind of like the not-so-superleague


As for PNG. The Hunters are 100% full time professional players that walk, talk, sleep, eat and train with each other 24/7/52. Them being competitive in a lower tier comp where the other teams are part timers is hardly proof that SL management need to look at PNG for anything.....they recently saw the cream of both French and PNG talent here in Europe.......remind us all again how they got on?

France scored 3 tries in 4 games...Ireland scored 3 tries in 1 game!...Catalans and the Elite (sic) comp have repeatedly failed to deliver top tier talent.....and before you go on about a French player at Salford, I said top tier......not outside the play-offs.

PNG scored 5 in 3 games. The gazzillions of players they have delivered one of the worst teams at the RLWC, if not the worst.

Tonga, Samoa and Fiji offer far more in the way of talented players on the fringes of being first grade.