Internationals back PNG NRL bid, key roles for Cairns and FNQ

Papua New Guinea internationals have backed our nearest neighbour’s bid for inclusion in the NRL by the end of the decade. This is what it means for Cairns’ stadium hopes and local sports service industry.

PAPUA New Guinea internationals have backed our nearest neighbour’s bid for inclusion in the NRL by the end of the decade.

PNG Sports Minister Wesley Raminai this week launched the bid, described as a project of “national significance”, to join the NRL by 2030.

“Our PNG NRL bid team is ready,” he said.

“The time to start the journey is now. We can’t wait any longer.

“This will put PNG on the map in ways never done before. I understand we did try something 12 years ago, but this bid is different.”

Two former Kumuls players have thrown their support behind the bid, which would grant the only country in the world who counts rugby league as its national sport entry to the most elite competition.

Premiership winning former Raider David Westley and multi- Queensland Cup champion Rodney Griffin have both been encouraged by the announcement.

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Westley represented PNG four times including at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup, during a playing career which spanned 143 top-level games at three clubs between 1993 and 2002, and included the 1994 premiership win at Canberra.

He said an identity in the NRL competition would provide a way for future generations to progress to higher levels of the sport.

“If it’s eight years away, sure," Westley said. “We’re far better off than we were 10 or so years ago.

“The Hunters haven’t gone well recently but the Digicell Cup is getting stronger. To have an NRL team you need that development at a grassroots level and it has to be stable.”

There has not been any mention of Cairns involvement so far, but that doesn’t mean this region will not play a role in helping PNG’s NRL bid become a reality.

Westley said he envisaged a scenario in which Cairns and Far North Queensland could help from a coaching perspective.

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“To get players and coaches upskilled, Cairns and FNQ can play a role there,” he said.

“We’re sending players to other clubs in the HPC as well, so to have that, you’re only developing them into better players.”

Griffin was born in Port Moresby, and moved to Atherton as a three-year-old, playing his junior rugby league with the Roosters.

Climbing the ranks to the NRL and enjoying a long and successful career in the Queensland Cup, Griffin also represented PNG 13 times between 2007 and 2017.

“It’s a good thing,” he said. “But it has to have that backing.

“I’d love to see a team coming out of PNG. Footy is massive there, and to have that (team) and those experiences available, would only help more players get into the system.

“If they can pull it off, it would be awesome.”

PNG’s national team is currently ranked fifth in the world.

What role Cairns could play in NRL’s expansion to 18 teams

CAIRNS’ role in the expansion of the NRL is all but set in stone with “a lot of work” ahead as Papua New Guinea launched its bid to become the code’s 18th team.

On Wednesday Papua New Guinea’s rugby league and national leaders announced the footy-mad country’s bid to become the NRL’s 18th team by 2030 was ready, at an event launch at Port Moresby.

With rugby league as its national sport, PNG’s top tier franchise side – the Hunters – currently feature in the Queensland Cup, while its international team is ranked fifth in the world.

PNG HUNTERS (Papua New Guinea Hunters) have launched a bid to enter the NRL by 2030.

On face value, PNG’s bid would seem a major boost for its rugby league neighbour – Cairns – a city currently campaigning for major upgrades to Barlow Park, or a whole new rugby league purpose-built rectangular stadium.

The good news for the Far North is that political leaders from Cairns and PNG, which have long held a dream of joining the NRL, have built a rapport around the sport and how the two regions could leverage off each other.

However, for PNG’s bid to “be ready” by the NRL’s standards, it means the country has everything it needs from infrastructure to organisational governance, financial strength and the relevant football operation markers such as competitiveness and pathways.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning runs out onto Barlow Park for the Legends of League rugby league match. Cr Manning says Cairns could have a seat at the table of PNG’s NRL bid. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

So why would PNG need any assistance from Cairns?

While Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said preparation for this bid didn’t involve him, and he wasn’t sure “what it looked like”, he said he would be surprised if there wasn’t a conversation on how the city would assist PNG’s push into the NRL.

Asked who would need to initiate the conversation for Cairns to have a seat at the table, Cr Manning said “we’ve had no discussions with them of late,” but “I just can’t imagine there won’t be one.”

“We spend quite some talking to each other, I’d be surprised if there isn’t an opportunity offered (to Cairns). We very much could have a part to play.”

Cr Manning said that role could include offering Cairns’ sports service industry to not only PNG’s prospective NRL team, but its wider sporting ambitions.

“If this idea of theirs was to come off, they’re talking about the NRL, that’s going to be big ask. Why would it only involve the NRL, why wouldn’t it involve the NBL too and netball. “With eight million people there, they’re limited in development there. There are so many young people that get passed over because they don’t have an academy, or league to get into.

“Then we’d be looking at CQ University, JCU and TAFE to get involved in sports science, conditioning, physios and medicine. And the business opportunities would grow from there.”

In Sydney, the NRL has played a role in lobbying for clubs’ new stadiums and upgrades, and if PNG was to be successful, Cr Manning said it wouldn’t detract attention away from Cairns’ stadium hopes, although the Hunters would continue to play home games at Port Moresby.

“It’s too early at this stage of the game, but it doesn’t hurt our chances of a stadium. If someone is going to put an NRL team into the place of one our trading partners, then that’s good for us.

“We have a lot to offer PNG, we’ve done a lot of work on that. But if there is to be a relationship with PNG, and that is to involve the NRL, then I think it’s almost an absolute certainty, that somewhere in all that something will happen that involves improvements of major infrastructure in Cairns.”

Originally published as Internationals back PNG NRL bid, key roles for Cairns and FNQ