PNG Rugby League : 2013 A Massive year of PNG Rugby League in Review

By Chris Thompson

2013 brought one of the biggest years to date for PNG Rugby League From the Local to the International Scene has they ever been such a full on calendar for PNG Rugby League . The answer is no we have never had such a full on Representative Calender starting in Febuary .

In Febuary Cabramatta Nines saw The PNG Residents cause many upsets in the Tournament and win it . 

A week later PNG Residents played South Sydney Rabbitohs in there annual trial match : Return to Redfern . The Residents showed glimpses of class but went down 

38-12 highlight of the game was seeing Israel Eliab score those 2 tries one was a length of the field chip and chase . 

On the local scene saw DIGICEL Cup team Agmark Gurias play The Northern Pride in Cairns for a pre season trial match . This was a game The Gurias lead from kick off they really stuck it to the Pride all game . Ase Boas was the best on park that night kicking the winning field goal to secure the win .

We had 3 PNG boys play NRL this year : James Segeyaro transfered to Penrith Panthers in the off season . He went on to have one of best seasons to date . Added so much flare and ethusitism from the bench .

David Mead started the season strong had a few injury setbacks with 2 broken jaws in one season . But Mead was shifted to Fullback mid season to cover for long term injuries . He actually showed his versatile and playing making skills from the back . 

Ray Thompson started the season from the bench getting switched from hooker to half from Coach Neil Henry . By mid season he adjusted to starting Hooker and was a hit from dummy half showed his versatile . He received a shocking injury pre finals with a sickening broken jaw . 

We had a few in Under 20's Holden Cup 

Rhyse Martin : Sydney City Roosters

Rhyse was the captain this year lead by example every game . Played very strong for The Roosters 

Nene McDonald: unstoppable from fullback and wing . Caused plenty of havoc outwide a future star .

Jono Kent: Canberra Raiders played wing played a few games for The Raiders the games I seen he looked very sharp will be a future star .

Intrust Super Cup saw a few PNG boys playing for numerous teams 

Joe Bond : Redcliffe Dolphins had a great season for the Mighty Fins played well in halves has really stamped that 5/8 position with his passing , speed and kicking game .

Tommy Butterfield: Switched clubs to Easts Tigers this year was an instant hit from Dummy Half was the most consistent for The Tigers all year . 

Rod Griffin: turned out for Ipswich Jets coming off the bench playing second row and prop was probably in career best form.

Tu'u Maori : Had a good season for The Jets was had a few injuries which prevented him playing all year . The games he played was unstoppable in the centres for The Jets.

Kurt Baptise : Played for Norths Devil had a very good year but was plagued with injuries but the games he played for Devils was unstoppable from Dummy Half .

Tyson Martin: Played a few games for Mackay Cutters but was injury prone this season didn't play many .

In the UK our PNG boys were in career best form .

Paul Aiton : Super League Wakefield was voted there best all year by the club . Paul was a standout for The Wildcats one of there best all year .

Jason Chan: Super League Huddersfield playing second row had a great season at Giants played well all year .

Menzie Yere: Co Op Sheffield Eagles 

The Jukebox was in career best form too try scorer in the league . Smashed club records all year probably his best season at the Eagles to date .

Jesse Joe Parker : Co Op Whitehaven . JJP became a cult figure in his second season at Haven was there top Tryscorer one of there most consistent 

Rodney Pora: Co Op Whitehaven 

Rodney finally made it to Haven after visas delays but he hit the ground running the first few games . But needed more match fitness finally trained hard and got match fit due to family reasons he returned home . early . 

France we had 2 PNG boys applying there trade there .

Toulouse : Kuni Minga playing centre from TNA Simbu Lions in his second year in France loving every minute and scoring plenty of tries .

Realmont : Rahdly Brawa playing centre or second in his first season in France . He came from TNA Simbu Lions too . Has become a cult figure for his club .

USA we had 2 PNG boys playing in there comp for The Jacksonville Axemen in Florida.

Jesse Wehere plays second row for The Axemen enjoying playing over there while studying .

Jay Mombu plays second row too he is also studying been dubbed the headhunter over there by fans . 

Mid year June/ July School holidays saw our National PNG Schoolboys under 16's , under 18's come down for a week long tour of Brisbane . Where our National Schoolboys played local high schools Wavell State high , Ipswich State high , QLD PNG and Redcliffe Dolphins . With mixed results a few wins and a few losses it was a great experience for all Schoolboys who got selected . Look forward to seeing them in 2014 

We had Team Kumuls camps to prepare our local boys for the WC . The camps were run by Mal Meninga and Adrian Lam they out together a program to prepare our boys for the WC . The camps were held in different provinces every month . Once a month the boys will go into camp for 5 days to learn drills , game plans , fitness etc 

DIGICEL Cup produced another great year of local PNG rugby league . In the end there were 5 contenders in the finals : Agmark Gurias , Lae Snax Tigers , POM Vipers , Goroka Lahanis and Enga Mioks . Well fought final series it was a 

Vipers vs Lahanis GF with The 

Port Moresby Vipers taking out the Trophy. 

Prelude to the WC selection 

Team Red vs Team Gold 

In a massive upset favourites Team Gold lost to Team Red in Port Moresby . The star studded Team Gold were expected to hammer Team Red quiet convincably but lead by Paul Aiton Team Red caused a massive upset to win .

A week later sees The PM Xlll taking to Kokopo first the time ever . This would the first representative game for the NGI's since 92 when the Great Britain played there . This was the strongest Australian PM Xlll squad ever sent to PNG . James Segeyaro torn his pectoral muscle in the first tackle was carried off and later found out was ruled out of the WC . But the Kangaroos was on fire that day and a few positional changes to key players didn't help our cause but Nene McDonald and Francus Paniu scored 2 great tries for us . 

The 2013 RLWC 

Our first warm up game against Scotland the boys played a near perfect game in all aspects and came away with the win . A great start to our WC preparations .

A week later we play France there were a few questionable position changes in key positions . Our boys never looked comfortable all game . But we did manage to score a few . But France hung in there to the death . It all came down to a penalty kick and unfortunately David Mead missed it we loose 8-9 .

A week later we face the might of the pacific Samoa . The Samoans were on fire in that game we couldn't match there shear size and line speed and go down in a very tough encounter .

Our last WC match against NZ Kiwis in a very physical encounter SBW was unstoppable the first half the Kiwis ran riot over us . The secondhand our boys dug deep played a near perfect half give it to the kiwis and we got a constellation try set up by Dion Aiye showing and going running bout 30m to JJP who takes off and passes inside to PNG schoolboy Wellington Albert to score .

The wash up of RLWC we played many players out of there preferred positions and we never got the results we wanted . If we played these players in there preferred positions would it have made a difference in all 3 games . My personal opinion is yes we would have rolled France . A week later put a fight against The Samoans. We definitely wouldn't have matched the kiwis . But everyone was proud to see the PNG Kumuls play in the WC reguards less the scores . The boys done us proud in my books .

Fast forward Late November PNG gain entry into 2014 Intrust Super Cup . They will be called PNG SP Hunters they will be based in Kokopo for 2 yrs while The Lloyd Robson Oval in getting rebuilt for 2015 . We must give credit where it is due to Brad Tassell, Shane Morris working behind the scenes with QRL to make this happen . This will give our boys a new pathway to getting recruited to NRL or SL . This will defiantely lift the standard of PNG rugby league to a higher level we have never seen before . Playing week in week out in the second strongest comp in the world . 

As you can see it has been the biggest year for PNG rugby league on all fronts we had the Highs and the Lows from all aspects . You can never say there's a dull moment in PNG rugby league . Thank you to all the PNG players who made this a special year for everyone . There will always been support for any Wantok playing at home and overseas . We look forward to a Bigger year in 2014