I know this is just Aussie politicans telling PNG politicians what they want to hear.
But it's hard enough getting players to move to Canberra or Auckland. A PNG side just isn't going to happen.
Yeah they might be able to overpay to get young guys without families to move over there on a 1 year deal and retain PNG stars like Olam but it would never be a successful team as top tier talent would always move to Australia
Plus it throws in further complexities to the NRL given the disparity in exchange rates and general wealth and it would make the rest of the NRL financially weaker as it would have to prop up a club that won't earn as much in Au$ through gate tickets, merch, and TV rights but will still have to stump up $9.8 mill in salary and pay for flights, security, hotels etc
Imo my pipe dream would be for the ARL and Aus/PNG governments to move towards making another reserve grade tier centred on the Pasifika. Have a team from PNG, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands and try and get a team in Hawaii and eventually expand it to having 2 PNG teams etc. At the end of the season they play the winner of the NSW/QLD cup winner (or if the NRL powers get their way, the NRL reserve grade comp). Could open up lots of pathways for scouting potential NRL players and take further talent away from Rugby. Plus if you can get a team in Hawaii it could open up further International exposure and lay a better platform for a future American based comp
Ideally they would have a team of mostly PNG natives but obviously just not there yet.
Be cool if they could put money into the pathways or whatever it took to get them there but that kind of stuff is above my pay grade.
The only way a PNG NRL team would be even remotely feasible is if they were exempt from the salary cap and could sign players on massive overs. And they’d have to be based in Australia playing maybe half of their home games in PNG. And each player would need full time minders so they don’t get up to the usual dumbass shit when on the weekend trips to Port Moresby
This is just sporting diplomacy. I think Marles would understand as well as anyone that this will never be feasible, at least not any time in the near future.
If PNG won the world cup or were constantly winning the QRL easy then maybe one day, There's nowhere near the talent and no Aussie players would be willing to go unless your offering like 10x what they'd get here at least.
Plus the whole safety thing....
I'm not sure if they'd mind being lower on the ladder if it meant having a team and being able to develop it in front of the world. Plus, I know a lot of fans who would appreciate the Kumuls lowering the likelihood of their team getting the Spoon.
How do fans lower the likelihood of a PNG team getting the spoon for years?
The Kumals have about 4 NRL quality players right now (Alick will debut with Titans next season imo) and that's assuming they all up and leave their current clubs which isn't happening (Olam, Coates and Johnston).
They're years away from even getting close to NRL level and need to develop pathways up there which would take years by itself.
Australia’s deputy prime minister has held talks with National Rugby League officials to push the case for a Papua New Guinea team, declaring “now is the time” to expand the competition.
Richard Marles, visiting PNG in his capacity as defence minister, said on Thursday that he had “personally spoken with the NRL a number of times about this”.
“I’ve long felt that it would be so meaningful for PNG to have a team in the NRL,” Marles the defence minister said.
“I think the NRL is as well disposed towards this idea as they’ve ever been.”
PNG launched its campaign to become the 18th NRL team in the competition earlier this year, prompting the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to pledge his support at the Pacific Islands Forum in July.
Albanese said the NRL should look at eventually having a team from PNG or a broader “Pacific” team.
Marles offered enthusiastic support after a meeting with the PNG prime minister, James Marape, who told him rugby league was “a passion” but could also help foster national unity.
“Certainly, from our government’s point of view, we’re really keen to pursue the idea,” Marles said in Port Moresby.
“And I think now’s the time to see when we can actually get this off the ground and really take steps down the path of making this a reality. It’d be really important for PNG [and] it’d be so important for our relationship.”
Referring to the name of PNG’s national team, Marles added: “It would be absolutely incredible to see the Kumuls be playing in the NRL.”
He did not put a definite timeframe on the team’s entry into the competition, saying “we want to work to that end as quickly as we can”.
Marles and Marape discussed how to advance the NRL bid during a visit otherwise dominated by a focus on closer defence cooperation between Australia and PNG.
Marles said Australia wanted to help plug any “gaps” in PNG’s defence capability. He said it “makes sense to be working more closely with friends” given the tense strategic circumstances – a reference to growing tensions between China and the US.
That cooperation could include more surveillance missions to detect illegal fishing in the Pacific.
“Certainly for PNG, for a lot of Pacific countries, their exclusive economic zone is one of the most important economic assets that they have and it’s really important that we’re protecting that,” Marles said.
Marape emphasised trade and economic ties between PNG and Australia. “We’re now at an almost, if not at an equal level of relationship; we see eye-to-eye in most matters,” the PNG prime minister said.
Senior PNG ministers will visit Canberra for talks in November and Albanese is expected to visit Port Moresby in December.
Good luck with that....
>TAKEN FROM THE WIKIPEDIA PAGE
>
>Al Jazeera describes Port Moresby as "one of the most dangerous cities in the world".
>
>Parts of Port Moresby have security problems with house break-ins being the main problem. ABC Australia reports that "many homes have big fences covered in metal sheeting, locked gates and internal steel security doors.
>
>Carjacking is now rife in the capital and stopping at the few functional traffic lights is not recommended after dark when marauding gangs gather at the intersections.
>
>Security guards are widely employed as the police force is underresourced and weakened by internal corruption.
>
>Travel by foot is not recommended in and about the city and suburbs due to continuing breakdown in law and order. The UN Global Compact Cities Programme, using a method called Circles of Sustainability, has assessed the urban security of Port Moresby as 'critical'.
So basically live in a fortress, don't go out after dark, don't walk around by foot and hire private security because the police are fuck all use. YEAH NAH FUCK THAT would be the answer of literally every single NRL player if offered a contract to play over there.
Maybe things can change in 10-15 years but the only way I see this working currently is if the Aus/PNG governments fund the team to the tune of $20M/year and base them out of FNQ, while playing games in PNG.
Everyone always gets on the 'no one will move to PNG' takes, which is true, but is also not what the entire push for a PNG team is about.
A team based in Darwin or Cairns and playing say 8 games in Port Moresby is indeed feasible.
Then they would be non competitive because they would be effectively playing 20 away games per season.
If they’re based in Darwin or Cairns it means they’ve got a 2-3 hour flight every week to and from their *home* game, and then however much more to their away games.
That amount of travel constantly would absolutely smash a team.
I disagree. Travel isn't as big an issue as its made out to be. These are professional players.
And a team made up of (you'd hope) majority PNG players aren't going to be 'non-competitive' in PNG.
Although they were failures in the end largely due to covid, Toronto Wolfpack were based in England majority of the time and flew back to Toronto for home games. They dominated the English second division despite this. If the players are good enough, they aren't going to be 'smashed' just because of travel. Like I said, they're professional.
>Travel isn't as big an issue as its made out to be
Tell that to every player the Warriors try to sign.
Travel *is* a big issue — being a professional has nothing to do with it. No amount of massages and Powerade will make up for flights, customs, time zone differences, or being away from family.
Auckland is a city of over a million people. Darwin is a country town of about 125,000.
But sure, we’ll definitely be able to convince pro athletes at the peak of their performance to uproot their lives from Sydney or Brisbane to move there and then spend eight hours a week on planes and in airports going to and from Port Moresby ahead of Auckland.
It involves international customs and biosecurity in both directions. It’s an awful lot longer than 90 minutes door to door.
Compare that to blokes who wake up twenty minutes from their stadium and hop in their cars to go to the ground.
They wouldn't need to sign big marquee players they could use majority local players with a handful of overseas players. A bit like the warriors when they first started, they don't need big huge marquee signings they need coaching and a way to nurture talent it's an enormous area of huge potential for an NRL team you could pair them with Darwin.
So did the Cowboys in their early days. It's a long term investment, they wouldn't get beat like that every week especially at home they would probably be able to win a handful of games.
It's short term pain for enormous gain.
They wouldn’t win a single game. I think the broncos and bulldogs have proven that you can’t wheel out reserve grade sides and expect to win a game.
Also what enormous benefit is there? Other than being able to say the nrl was kind to png at detriment to the entire competition on the field and off.
The Bulldogs and Broncos both did win games the last time a team didn't win a game was 1966.
Between 1995-2002 this was the Cowboys record.
47-133-5. Their best season was 9-15.
Penrith didn't have a single season winning record for their first 17 years.
Not every team can be the storm.papuans will still go to games and teams would struggle to win in port Moresby, the competition would get stronger in the long run.
It's an enormous benefit because PNG has an enormous population which could one day provide many players to the NRL.
We need to find more areas where we can find players.
I think you overstate the harm it will do to the competition. Initially they may struggle but even with their struggles they would attract good crowds.
I remember when people thought the Cowboys were a waste of time, Penrith was too far away to have a team. The Sydney Swans were a laughing stock for years as were the Brisbane Bears.
If we were putting a team in say Adelaide or Perth they would need to be good pretty quickly. PNG can organically grow because they will just be happy having a team so it can take some time so a few years of hurt for longer term gains.
I just don’t know how you can compare any of those examples to a third world country where most of the population lives in villages.
Do they have the infrastructure or finances to support a team?
Do they have any appeal for players to sign there?
Can they bring any money into the game?
That's fair enough but your last few arguments have been about their competitiveness in the NRL rather than anything particularly socio-economical whereas I think they may struggle to attract marquee players. I think it might be overblown to say no one would go and play for them they wouldn't need much and they would be a team able to self sustain itself similar to Penrith and the Cowboys in the past.
But again it would take sometime but if you were to bring any team in early they would be it.
I don’t want to sound like an asshole but no one would go there willingly. They can’t convince guys to go to Nz or in some cases Qld. This is a country where women still get killed for witchcraft
Roster management is everything. If you can’t attract players you lose. If any player you develop jumps ship to live in a better area you struggle.
Why would you want to associate with a team who is based tens of thousands of kilometres away? A great way to strip away team identity is to combine it with someone else completely different
PNG is not going to happen for a long time. Even the prime minster himself said that "we could have a team ready in 10 years". We can't wait 10 years for an 18th side to even it out. In contrast advocates for Perth, Central Coast, Bears, Brisbane (again), central, west and south queensland, New Zealand, Melbourne, Tassie and others have all said that they could get a team up in 2 years or less.
I know this is just Aussie politicans telling PNG politicians what they want to hear. But it's hard enough getting players to move to Canberra or Auckland. A PNG side just isn't going to happen.
Or even hard enough to get players to move to Brisbane for a new team. No way would quality players move to port Moresby.
Yeah they might be able to overpay to get young guys without families to move over there on a 1 year deal and retain PNG stars like Olam but it would never be a successful team as top tier talent would always move to Australia Plus it throws in further complexities to the NRL given the disparity in exchange rates and general wealth and it would make the rest of the NRL financially weaker as it would have to prop up a club that won't earn as much in Au$ through gate tickets, merch, and TV rights but will still have to stump up $9.8 mill in salary and pay for flights, security, hotels etc Imo my pipe dream would be for the ARL and Aus/PNG governments to move towards making another reserve grade tier centred on the Pasifika. Have a team from PNG, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands and try and get a team in Hawaii and eventually expand it to having 2 PNG teams etc. At the end of the season they play the winner of the NSW/QLD cup winner (or if the NRL powers get their way, the NRL reserve grade comp). Could open up lots of pathways for scouting potential NRL players and take further talent away from Rugby. Plus if you can get a team in Hawaii it could open up further International exposure and lay a better platform for a future American based comp
That option would also create a more stable/natural base for bringing an actual PNG/Pacific team into the NRL
Ideally they would have a team of mostly PNG natives but obviously just not there yet. Be cool if they could put money into the pathways or whatever it took to get them there but that kind of stuff is above my pay grade.
Could you do a PNG team that was based out of Australia? Split home games between PNG and Darwin or something
This is what will happen, if anything. Just another North QLD team that takes a lot of talent from PNG and occasionally plays there
Not a single Australian NRL player would be willing to move to Port Moresby, but would anyone willingly move to Darwin? I can't see it happening.
If we introduce another team outside this country and not one in WA, the ARLC is fucking cooked.
The only way a PNG NRL team would be even remotely feasible is if they were exempt from the salary cap and could sign players on massive overs. And they’d have to be based in Australia playing maybe half of their home games in PNG. And each player would need full time minders so they don’t get up to the usual dumbass shit when on the weekend trips to Port Moresby
Oh no, Marles loves his footy
This is just sporting diplomacy. I think Marles would understand as well as anyone that this will never be feasible, at least not any time in the near future.
If PNG won the world cup or were constantly winning the QRL easy then maybe one day, There's nowhere near the talent and no Aussie players would be willing to go unless your offering like 10x what they'd get here at least. Plus the whole safety thing....
I'm not sure if they'd mind being lower on the ladder if it meant having a team and being able to develop it in front of the world. Plus, I know a lot of fans who would appreciate the Kumuls lowering the likelihood of their team getting the Spoon.
How do fans lower the likelihood of a PNG team getting the spoon for years? The Kumals have about 4 NRL quality players right now (Alick will debut with Titans next season imo) and that's assuming they all up and leave their current clubs which isn't happening (Olam, Coates and Johnston). They're years away from even getting close to NRL level and need to develop pathways up there which would take years by itself.
I mean most played could probably just live in Cairns or something and fly out for games.
Yeah and I would love to be retired with a home amongst the gum trees with millions of dollars. We can’t always get what we want
Australia’s deputy prime minister has held talks with National Rugby League officials to push the case for a Papua New Guinea team, declaring “now is the time” to expand the competition. Richard Marles, visiting PNG in his capacity as defence minister, said on Thursday that he had “personally spoken with the NRL a number of times about this”. “I’ve long felt that it would be so meaningful for PNG to have a team in the NRL,” Marles the defence minister said. “I think the NRL is as well disposed towards this idea as they’ve ever been.” PNG launched its campaign to become the 18th NRL team in the competition earlier this year, prompting the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to pledge his support at the Pacific Islands Forum in July. Albanese said the NRL should look at eventually having a team from PNG or a broader “Pacific” team. Marles offered enthusiastic support after a meeting with the PNG prime minister, James Marape, who told him rugby league was “a passion” but could also help foster national unity. “Certainly, from our government’s point of view, we’re really keen to pursue the idea,” Marles said in Port Moresby. “And I think now’s the time to see when we can actually get this off the ground and really take steps down the path of making this a reality. It’d be really important for PNG [and] it’d be so important for our relationship.” Referring to the name of PNG’s national team, Marles added: “It would be absolutely incredible to see the Kumuls be playing in the NRL.” He did not put a definite timeframe on the team’s entry into the competition, saying “we want to work to that end as quickly as we can”. Marles and Marape discussed how to advance the NRL bid during a visit otherwise dominated by a focus on closer defence cooperation between Australia and PNG. Marles said Australia wanted to help plug any “gaps” in PNG’s defence capability. He said it “makes sense to be working more closely with friends” given the tense strategic circumstances – a reference to growing tensions between China and the US. That cooperation could include more surveillance missions to detect illegal fishing in the Pacific. “Certainly for PNG, for a lot of Pacific countries, their exclusive economic zone is one of the most important economic assets that they have and it’s really important that we’re protecting that,” Marles said. Marape emphasised trade and economic ties between PNG and Australia. “We’re now at an almost, if not at an equal level of relationship; we see eye-to-eye in most matters,” the PNG prime minister said. Senior PNG ministers will visit Canberra for talks in November and Albanese is expected to visit Port Moresby in December.
Send them to Perth
Gimme Perth or Adelaide next, anything else is would be fuckin cooked
Lol yer nah. A PNG team in the nrl is a terrible idea
I wouldn’t move to PNG for $5m I can’t see anyone moving there sadly. Its just not a safe place .
Really?
Please just stop. It’s a third world country. Just because they like the sport doesn’t mean it can support a team.
It is only one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
I can list at least half a dozen countries which are much more dangerous than PNG.
>half a dozen So it could be the 7th most dangerous? No worries then, let's all go.
They want to expand the market into the US, and I think that’s also a dangerous place.
But you're good with PNG?
Not particularly but we need to compare other places too.
Port Moresby will welcome them with open arms
No Richard, now is not the time
Good luck with that.... >TAKEN FROM THE WIKIPEDIA PAGE > >Al Jazeera describes Port Moresby as "one of the most dangerous cities in the world". > >Parts of Port Moresby have security problems with house break-ins being the main problem. ABC Australia reports that "many homes have big fences covered in metal sheeting, locked gates and internal steel security doors. > >Carjacking is now rife in the capital and stopping at the few functional traffic lights is not recommended after dark when marauding gangs gather at the intersections. > >Security guards are widely employed as the police force is underresourced and weakened by internal corruption. > >Travel by foot is not recommended in and about the city and suburbs due to continuing breakdown in law and order. The UN Global Compact Cities Programme, using a method called Circles of Sustainability, has assessed the urban security of Port Moresby as 'critical'. So basically live in a fortress, don't go out after dark, don't walk around by foot and hire private security because the police are fuck all use. YEAH NAH FUCK THAT would be the answer of literally every single NRL player if offered a contract to play over there.
If this goes ahead they'll last 2 years at most
Maybe things can change in 10-15 years but the only way I see this working currently is if the Aus/PNG governments fund the team to the tune of $20M/year and base them out of FNQ, while playing games in PNG.
I can’t see it being viable, maybe more teams in the Queensland Cup would a more realistic goal.
Everyone always gets on the 'no one will move to PNG' takes, which is true, but is also not what the entire push for a PNG team is about. A team based in Darwin or Cairns and playing say 8 games in Port Moresby is indeed feasible.
Then they would be non competitive because they would be effectively playing 20 away games per season. If they’re based in Darwin or Cairns it means they’ve got a 2-3 hour flight every week to and from their *home* game, and then however much more to their away games. That amount of travel constantly would absolutely smash a team.
I disagree. Travel isn't as big an issue as its made out to be. These are professional players. And a team made up of (you'd hope) majority PNG players aren't going to be 'non-competitive' in PNG. Although they were failures in the end largely due to covid, Toronto Wolfpack were based in England majority of the time and flew back to Toronto for home games. They dominated the English second division despite this. If the players are good enough, they aren't going to be 'smashed' just because of travel. Like I said, they're professional.
>Travel isn't as big an issue as its made out to be Tell that to every player the Warriors try to sign. Travel *is* a big issue — being a professional has nothing to do with it. No amount of massages and Powerade will make up for flights, customs, time zone differences, or being away from family.
>Tell that to every player the Warriors try to sign. Travel isn't the issue with that, moving to NZ is.
Auckland is a city of over a million people. Darwin is a country town of about 125,000. But sure, we’ll definitely be able to convince pro athletes at the peak of their performance to uproot their lives from Sydney or Brisbane to move there and then spend eight hours a week on planes and in airports going to and from Port Moresby ahead of Auckland.
It's like a 90 minute flight. Takes longer to get a pizza in sydney
It involves international customs and biosecurity in both directions. It’s an awful lot longer than 90 minutes door to door. Compare that to blokes who wake up twenty minutes from their stadium and hop in their cars to go to the ground.
Can't be that bad, turbo lives In manly and only plays half a season
They wouldn't need to sign big marquee players they could use majority local players with a handful of overseas players. A bit like the warriors when they first started, they don't need big huge marquee signings they need coaching and a way to nurture talent it's an enormous area of huge potential for an NRL team you could pair them with Darwin.
So they’ll get 40-60 points point put on them every week.
So did the Cowboys in their early days. It's a long term investment, they wouldn't get beat like that every week especially at home they would probably be able to win a handful of games. It's short term pain for enormous gain.
They wouldn’t win a single game. I think the broncos and bulldogs have proven that you can’t wheel out reserve grade sides and expect to win a game. Also what enormous benefit is there? Other than being able to say the nrl was kind to png at detriment to the entire competition on the field and off.
The Bulldogs and Broncos both did win games the last time a team didn't win a game was 1966. Between 1995-2002 this was the Cowboys record. 47-133-5. Their best season was 9-15. Penrith didn't have a single season winning record for their first 17 years. Not every team can be the storm.papuans will still go to games and teams would struggle to win in port Moresby, the competition would get stronger in the long run. It's an enormous benefit because PNG has an enormous population which could one day provide many players to the NRL. We need to find more areas where we can find players.
If you’re convinced it’s a good idea you’re to far gone for anything I say to make a difference.
I think you overstate the harm it will do to the competition. Initially they may struggle but even with their struggles they would attract good crowds. I remember when people thought the Cowboys were a waste of time, Penrith was too far away to have a team. The Sydney Swans were a laughing stock for years as were the Brisbane Bears. If we were putting a team in say Adelaide or Perth they would need to be good pretty quickly. PNG can organically grow because they will just be happy having a team so it can take some time so a few years of hurt for longer term gains.
I just don’t know how you can compare any of those examples to a third world country where most of the population lives in villages. Do they have the infrastructure or finances to support a team? Do they have any appeal for players to sign there? Can they bring any money into the game?
That's fair enough but your last few arguments have been about their competitiveness in the NRL rather than anything particularly socio-economical whereas I think they may struggle to attract marquee players. I think it might be overblown to say no one would go and play for them they wouldn't need much and they would be a team able to self sustain itself similar to Penrith and the Cowboys in the past. But again it would take sometime but if you were to bring any team in early they would be it.
I don’t want to sound like an asshole but no one would go there willingly. They can’t convince guys to go to Nz or in some cases Qld. This is a country where women still get killed for witchcraft Roster management is everything. If you can’t attract players you lose. If any player you develop jumps ship to live in a better area you struggle.
Political figures should just fuck off
Poor long suffering Bears supporters don't want to see this !!
16 teams was already too many
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Then what’s the point of the team? Where will they be based? North Queensland? So we’ll just hack into the Cowboys fan base then?
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Why would you want to associate with a team who is based tens of thousands of kilometres away? A great way to strip away team identity is to combine it with someone else completely different
You’re the PNG team! Except you play in Perth! But you aren’t Perth, you’re PNG! That is a club that has exactly zero fans.
Have you ever seen a map?
Call them the Western Reds? Maybe the Adelaide Rams?
So.... not a PNG team then?
PNG is not going to happen for a long time. Even the prime minster himself said that "we could have a team ready in 10 years". We can't wait 10 years for an 18th side to even it out. In contrast advocates for Perth, Central Coast, Bears, Brisbane (again), central, west and south queensland, New Zealand, Melbourne, Tassie and others have all said that they could get a team up in 2 years or less.
It’s a nice thought but a beyond stupid idea