There has been plenty of smoke around Papua New Guinea’s entry to the NRL, but that didn’t make it any less striking as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, PNG Prime Minister James Marape and NRL boss Peter V’landys confirmed there would be fire to go with it.
All the right words were exchanged as the most ambitious, complex and expensive expansion play in rugby league history officially came to life.
Albanese described Australia and Papua New Guinea “the nearest of neighbours and the truest of friends” and mentioned the possibilities of rugby league diplomacy across the Pacific.
PNG team to enter NRL under long-awaited deal with Australia
There was a lot of talk describing the two nations as family and big dreams of what this team can do for PNG — Marape described it as lifestyle transformation for the country and waxed lyrical about the unifying impact it could have across the islands.
There were jokes about South Sydney, mentions of the Kokoda track and, of course, the obligatory mention of Papua New Guinea’s all-consuming love for rugby league.
At this point every rugby league fan worth their salt knows the game is the national sport of Papua New Guinea. In terms of rugby league phrases, that’s right up there with taking it one game at a time, training the house down and giving full credit to the boys.
It’s a statement that’s been said and heard so often that it’s easy to overlook what it actually means. The passion PNG has for the game can be inspiring, intimidating and overwhelming in turn.
The best of it shines through in a way that makes your heart soar and being exposed to it will change you for the better. Players weep when they tell you what it means to represent the Kumuls. They call the jersey a second skin, and say wearing the national colours is the honour of their life.
When the PNG Hunters won the Queensland Cup in 2017, thousands flooded the airport amid national celebrations. When the Prime Minister’s XIII comes to Port Moresby, they can barely move for the crowds who are desperate to see or touch their heroes. The strength of their love is enough to wash away any cynicism around the sport.
But the worst of it is a horror, because people can die. Less than 10 years ago the police commander in Enga called for the government to ban broadcasts of State of Origin due to post-match killings. Rugby league is not necessarily the cause of such violence — and this particular area is known for tribal clashes — but the game can act as a flashpoint for conflicts that stretch back decades.
Rugby league is not a game in Papua New Guinea, it is an extension of many people’s lives. Understanding that relationship is crucial if we’re to fully grasp the challenge ahead for the NRL and why this is the most ambitious and complicated expansion ploy in rugby league history.
There are all the challenges that any new side must deal with, things like assembling a competitive roster, putting in the infrastructure to be successful and finding their place in the crowded rugby league marketplace, which are hard to pull off anywhere, only with Papua New Guinea itself acting as a difficulty multiplier.
They must solve problems that other new teams wouldn’t have to imagine, much less confront.
Papua New Guinea’s passion for the sport is unmatched. (Getty Images: Bradley Kanaris )
Take roster assembly as an example. Signing players to an expansion team is tough — look how the Dolphins struggled to land a marquee man in the lead up to their debut season in 2023, and that was without players needing to live inside a secure compound.
Even if exports fill out the side in it’s early years, the goal will be for local products to form the bulk of the side and there has already been much good work done on pathways to top level football over the past decade since the Hunters were introduced to the Queensland Cup in 2014.
The quiet and mighty rise of Papua New Guinea
Justin Olam is still the only Hunters product to make the NRL, but plenty of others have cracked Super League, like Leigh’s Edwin Ipape and Warrington’s Rodrick Tai, or found success at other Queensland Cup clubs.
This year the Hunters did the double with Judah Rimbu winning the competition’s player of the year award and Morea Morea winning rookie of the year as the Hunters returned to the finals for the first time since their premiership year.
Rimbu has signed with Castleford in England, Morea is undergoing a pre-season with North Queensland on a train and trial deal and the tide is rising in the juniors.
Last season, the Junior Kumuls went down to the Junior Kangaroos by just 4 points and this year they managed a draw.
But pathway work is a long process, one which can take over a decade to bear fruit. In the meantime, there will be plenty of growing pains.
Money won’t be an issue — with the tax-free concession in the offing they’ll be able to blow other clubs out of the water in terms of raw dollars.
But given there are teams in Australia who often find stacks of cash isn’t enough to secure big free agents, the contracts might have to balloon to truly eye-watering amounts, and even then it might not be enough.
That means success could be a long time coming. Years without glory might not be an issue in Papua New Guinea, where love for the team will be the only limitless resource at the club’s disposal, but the club does not exist in a vacuum — there has to be some measure of relevance for them across the whole league and the only way to get it is to win.
No other club is being used as a tool for international diplomacy, or owes the bedrock of their existence to government funding, and no other club will have to deal with Papua New Guinea’s difficult relationship between the traditional and modern way of life.
For an example of the latter, look no further than the fact that in a nation where 40 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, sports gambling has taken off, especially in Port Moresby.
Australian’s lose $25 billion to the bookmakers every year, the most of any nation in the world, and it’s now being exported to Papua New Guinea.
NRL games, of course, are the PNG punters game of choice and, as in Australia, the greatest losses often happen in the poorest areas.
PNG’s rugby league gambling issue
In terms of the former, there there is still widespread beliefs in sorcery and accusations of such can often lead to brutal violence.
The NRL is dealing with a unique set of circumstances. The check-marks of the other expansion bids — like what they would add to the league’s television deal, for instance — are so far off the map they’re invisible.
On a more practical level, the team will be tasked with unifying a diverse and disparate nation. Close to 80 per cent of the PNG’s population live in rural areas — or at least they’re estimated to because nobody is quite sure what the population really is.
It’s the most culturally and linguistically diverse nation on the planet, with over 800 languages being spoken across the islands — that’s around 10 per cent of all languages spoken on the planet.
That diversity can be a challenge, but it’s said one thing that unites all of Papua New Guinea, from Port Moresby in the south to Sepik in the north, to the island of West New Britain off the coast and the Highlands up in the mountains, is rugby league.
That means a PNG NRL side and the money and infrastructure that comes with it can be a powerful force for social change, which would do more good than winning a premiership ever could.
This has already happened several times over in an individual sense. Former Hunters coach Michael Marum has spoken in the past about how the discipline from football has helped plenty of players achieve great things away from the game.
One player retired early to became a doctor in his home village. Another that did the same became a teacher. Marum himself has since left the game and become governor of East New Britain province.
It’s the kind of upward mobility many Papua New Guineans can scarcely dream of and football helped make it possible.
The best case scenario is this NRL side can apply that to even more locals. In giving the people what they want, rugby league might be able to give them what they need and in the land where the sport is more than a game, they can be more than just a footy team.
But that just ups the stakes even further and they are already so high. It’s not just matches that are on the line, it’s people’s futures.
The weight of it will be incredible. If it all goes right, it could transform a nation. If it all goes wrong, it will be an inexcusable waste.
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They won’t enter the league until 2028 but the work starts now and they’ll need every bit of it. The business case is airtight in terms of dollars, cents and kina — the NRL wouldn’t have admitted the bid if it wasn’t and PNG’s strategic position could open the door for vast corporate investment.
Money will not be a problem for this side. They will have more of it than any team could ever ask for.
But the nuts and bolts of running a football club — signing players, developing juniors, winning games — will be an arduous task because they’re existing in unique circumstances to not just the rest of the league, but to every other team which has come before them.
Think about how hard it has been for the Gold Coast Titans, who are still searching for sustained success and relevance after almost 20 years of life in a highly developed rugby league heartland. The depths of the fans love for their side will be endless, but love isn’t always enough.
Expansion is never easy and bringing a new club to life is always hard. Papua New Guinea’s passion for rugby league can never be doubted but converting that raw resource into sustained success shapes as one of the tallest orders in the history of the sport.
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