2024 NRL General Discussion Thread

[BroncsFan]

A PNQ team is political only. They won’t produce enough talent to be competitive for many many years. It’ll be a struggle to recruit players as it’s not a safe place to live. Basing a team
In Cainrs kind of defeats the purpose of the PNG team to begin with

I feel like naming them together is more of a wait and see... Perth are definites and pleases the media and fans that have been calling for it forever.

However, if the government doesn't come to the party with guaranteed funding for PNG then they'll pull it and give it over to NZ 2.0 or just leave it at 18 teams until they figure out a 19th and 20th team

 

[Foordy]

Perth and PNG to be the next 2 teams in expansion. Should be officially announced in June apparently.

A PNG team (in the form they are talking about) is purely stupid.

This team will have literally zero support. I can't see the PNG public getting a team that isn't based in PNG. the people of PNG won't consider it a PNG team ... and the people of Cairns (where it will be based) won't consider it a Cairns team.

as @Bucking Beads said it is a pure political move. the problem with that (apart from the obvious that politics should stay the **** away from sport) is that the NRL are now going to need to rely on the Government to keep their promise and fund the new PNG team for the next decade (the NSW stadiums issue should have taught them how fraught with danger that can be), and even if the current Government do keep their promise, then the NRL still need to rely on them staying in office, if they lose an election there is no guarantee the incoming Government, won't immediately scrap that funding.

I seriously see a PNG team (in the proposed form) being a dismal failure and setting the sport back in PNG a long time (at least in terms of getting a professional team).

the Perth team on the other hand is a no-brainer and should have happened ages ago

 

[Wolfie]

The talent is there certainley there in PNG. They simply dont have the grass roots infrastructure to develop the players they have which is going to cause an issue developing a team for the NRL. They play for the love of the game but the facilities just arent there and i just dont see it happening. You arent getting people move sticks to live in PNG and build league enough so their promising players all have a good pathway to play league.

 

[Bucking Beads]

The talent is there certainley there in PNG. They simply dont have the grass roots infrastructure to develop the players they have which is going to cause an issue developing a team for the NRL. They play for the love of the game but the facilities just arent there and i just dont see it happening. You arent getting people move sticks to live in PNG and build league enough so their promising players all have a good pathway to play league.

Wasn’t the PNG Q cup game meant to help that?

 

[BroncsFan]

The talent is there certainley there in PNG. They simply dont have the grass roots infrastructure to develop the players they have which is going to cause an issue developing a team for the NRL. They play for the love of the game but the facilities just arent there and i just dont see it happening. You arent getting people move sticks to live in PNG and build league enough so their promising players all have a good pathway to play league.

If they really want to improve PNG then I think they should be focussing on their Qcup team and also increasing international games for PNG.

PNG fucking love those two teams and they love any PNG player playing for an NRL team Olam, Coates, Johnston, Seggy, Mead, etc.

Focus on creating pathways for PNG players... giving them an NRL team that will live at the bottom of the ladder, play out of Qld and can't be fully sustainable with PNG talent alone is a huge risk of failure... and relying on Fed Govt money is a bigger risk again.

As soon as the funding is pulled that team becomes defunct and it becomes a black mark on the NRL

 

[Wolfie]

Wasn’t the PNG Q cup game meant to help that?

It gave them an outlet for one team but to develop they need more than one side really. We kind of take it for granted there is a very good system for kids to work their way up to even reserve grade in this country. They simply dont have that level of facilities and coaching infrastructure in PNG.

 

[Fernando]

If it is legit then they must be getting a hell of a deal from the Govt to go PNG instead of NZ2 or another Brisbane side

 

[Foordy]

If it is legit then they must be getting a hell of a deal from the Govt to go PNG instead of NZ2 or another Brisbane side

IIRC, it was reported that the Albo Government had promised $60 million per year for 10 years

 

[Allo]

If it is legit then they must be getting a hell of a deal from the Govt to go PNG instead of NZ2 or another Brisbane side

It’ll probably be mostly a geopolitical manoeuvre via this investment to shore up PNG against Chinese interests in both military operations and financial influence around there and places like the Solomons, Vanuatu etc and have easier access north towards the Phillipines and other US strategic locations, as well as ‘foreign aid’ as a way to get first option to resources in Papua.

 

[Sproj]

I get the reasons for PNG but why on earth bring in two new teams? It still leaves an uneven number. Why not just bring in a 20th as well? There isn't enough talent for 17 teams currently, so if you are bringing in two more and diluting it even further, what difference does a third make?

 

[BroncsFan]

I get the reasons for PNG but why on earth bring in two new teams? It still leaves an uneven number. Why not just bring in a 20th as well? There isn't enough talent for 17 teams currently, so if you are bringing in two more and diluting it even further, what difference does a third make?

I think the bye each round has benefits... especially looking at the number of injuries being picked up pretty much every week.

Broncos look like they need a bye yesterday and it gives teams a chance to actually have a break mid-season.

Having byes through origin doesn't help the origin players, but they were the only times teams used to get them... It could very well become part of RLPA requirements moving forward, because the game is just insane at the moment with the pace and fatigue being introduced year on year... as well as origin never going away and stacking the offseason calendar.

Something has to give at some point.

 

[Sproj]

I think the bye each round has benefits... especially looking at the number of injuries being picked up pretty much every week.

Broncos look like they need a bye yesterday and it gives teams a chance to actually have a break mid-season.

Having byes through origin doesn't help the origin players, but they were the only times teams used to get them... It could very well become part of RLPA requirements moving forward, because the game is just insane at the moment with the pace and fatigue being introduced year on year... as well as origin never going away and stacking the offseason calendar.

Something has to give at some point.

Fair points for sure but the issue for me is that it makes the comp even more uneven. Some teams are going to get massive benefits from the scheduling and some are not. Having bye rounds spread evenly for multiple teams, it at least does some attempt at fairness and evenness.

 

[1910]

If we're talking about guys that actually played a game for broncos (i.e. excluding Tino, Walker, etc.) then the below is still a fair side... can pretty much build a top 30 squad.

1 Kodi Nikorima
2 Jamayne Isaako
3 Herbie Farnworth
4 Dane Gagai
5 Xavier Coates
6 Te Maire Martin
7 Tom Dearden
8 Thomas Flegler
9 Ben Hunt
10 Jai Arrow
11 David Fifita
12 Jaydn Su'A
13 Zac Hosking

14 Jack Bird
15 Matt Lodge
16 Jarrod Wallace
17 Kurt Capewell

18 Tyson Gamble
19 Ethan Bullemor
20 Tevita Pangai Junior
21 Sean O'Sullivan
22 Tom Opacic
23 Joe Ofahengaue
24 Danny Levi
25 Tesi Niu

More dramatic to name 12 year olds.

 

[Renegade]

Totally on board with the PNG expansion.

I heard some ridiculous rumour that apparently the PNG bid has a blessing from the US - a means of shoring up the pacific region with China's expanding influence. A bit of soft power if you will. It's an interesting way to look at it if you're wondering why it's seemingly being pushed so hard, then again it's easy to work backwards from the answer to the sum itself...

 

[Browny]

2 more teams will massively dredge the depth of the NRL

 

[Big Del]

The talent is there certainley there in PNG. They simply dont have the grass roots infrastructure to develop the players they have which is going to cause an issue developing a team for the NRL. They play for the love of the game but the facilities just arent there and i just dont see it happening. You arent getting people move sticks to live in PNG and build league enough so their promising players all have a good pathway to play league.

They play with passion . But ,,,
Generally they aren`t big enough to compete with bigger bodies .

 

[Organix]

They play with passion . But ,,,
Generally they aren`t big enough to compete with bigger bodies .

Given a good training program and some time, nutrition, etc. I can see them competing. In the Rugby already the Fijian Drua are a force. Same could be said for the indigenous players in our league. There are surely some big bodies out there, and it will give a better selection, and be better overall for PNG.

I just hope it does not turn into some kind of extortionate program for the NRL or Australia in general. The PNG-ans LOVE the game, and that passion really should return to Australia. If we use something they love to basically change their nation as a whole, use them as some sort of weird political or sporting experiment, I would be fully against that.

On another point, I hope it does not end up like Canberra, where players go to earn or break out and then leave because nobody wants to be there. I hope PNG doesn't turn into some kind of isolated team made up only of PNG-ans like some kind of weird ethnic novelty act. I dislike that idea entirely, but I do understand that in the early days it will be likely that a team from one place has a disproportionate number of indigenous PNG-ans.

What I am saying is, that PNG will ultimately struggle if they are only selecting from PNG-ans and don't also purchase players from the normal NRL market. Thus, players should also be incentivised to transfer to PNG, which will also benefit the PNG economy.

However, I do see this move as becoming quite heavily political quite fast.

 

[Wolfie]

They play with passion . But ,,,
Generally they aren`t big enough to compete with bigger bodies .

They have plenty of big boys playing in PNG, Wellington Albert springs to mind, he's huge. The main issue is their development. Its not financially viable for a lot of players over there to prioritise league over life, so they give it up or dont put their time into it fully. Add the lack of development due to lack of funding, and thats why you dont see many of them over here.