PNG Hunters set for Northern Pride

The PNG Hunters will take on the defending premiers Northern Pride this Sunday at the Kalabond Oval in Kokopo. It will be a double header when Agmark Gurias will also take on the Port Moresby Vipers in the digicel cup as curtain raiser for the Hunters vs Pride game..

This will be a tough task for Marums men as they have never beaten the Prides in any of the round matches. Coach Marum named players who took part in the Pacific Test lost of the Melanesian brothers Fiji. 

Captain Israel Eliab, Thompson Teteh, Noel Zeming, Kato Ottio, Willie Minoga, Brandy Peter, Adam Korave and Wartovo Puara Jr have been named in Sunday’s team for the match at Kalabond Oval, Kokopo.

Lawrence Tu’u, who was not used in the match on the Gold Coast, has been named in the 20-man squad.

The Pride are on eight points points, two short of the Hunters, following their victory over Sunshine Coast Falcons in the only game — a catch-up match — played at the weekend.

The Pride-Falcons match was a Round 2 clash which was deferred after Cyclone Nathan ravaged Far North Queensland earlier in the year.

The rest of the competition last weekend was suspended due to the representative round during which nine Hunters played for the Kumuls against the Bati at CBUS Super Stadium on the Gold Coast, while a Q-Cup XIII took on their NSW Cup rivals in another representative fixture.

The South Pacific Brewery-sponsored Hunters sit in seventh spot while the Pride now pushing up to ninth spot are fast closing the gap on the teams above them after a slow start to the season where they lost four of their first five matches.

The Hunters have not been training since they came into camp because of several earthquakes that have occurred in the Gazelle Peninsula over the last three days.

Marum said the side would get back to training today to prepare for the Pride. 

The Hunters Team

The SP Hunters: 1. Stargroth Amean, 2. Bland Abavu, 3. Noel Zeming, 4. Thompson Teteh, 5. Adex Wera, 6. Israel Eliab (c), 7. Ase Boas, 8. Henry Wan, 9. Wartovo Puara, 10. Esau Siune, 11. Kato Ottio, 12. Brandy Peter, 13. Adam Korave; Interchange: 14. Roger Laka, 15. Lawrence Tu’u, 16. Willie Minoga, 17. Timothy Lomai, 18. Atte Bina, 19. Edward Goma, 20. David Lapua (three 3 to be omitted).