Sport: PNG Hunters make a statement in first ever game

Transcript

The Papua New Guinea Hunters have laid down a marker one month out from their debut in rugby league's Queensland Cup.

The newly-formed side beat last year's Minor Premiers, Northern Pride, in Cairns on Sunday in their first ever match.

The club CEO Brad Tassell told Don Wiseman that while it was only a trial game, the performance of the players bodes well for the future.

BRAD TASSELL: The important thing for us is to see how the players stacked up against tough opposition and Northern Pride are rated as Premiership favourites this year so it was a good test for us just to test combinations and see how the players aim up.  We were really pleased with the result - it was a see-sawing match, the lead changed a few times and I actually thought we were the better side throughout the entire match.  Pride got to a lead and our boys didn't chuck it in, they stuck to their guns and came back and played some exciting football and put on two tries I think in eight minutes.  It was great for us and great for the supporters that were there.

DON WISEMAN:  The idea of having a PNG team playing in leagues in Australia has been in the pipeline for a long time so what's it like just to see this team run out there for the first time?

BT: Oh, it's very hard to describe the feeling last night.  It was just a culmination of two or three years of really hard work.  It's been the toughest sort of three years I guess that I've had in my 25 or 30 years involved in the game and last night was just fantastic to see.  I was really pleased for the players, really pleased for the club, the directors and everyone who has put in such a lot of time and effort and hard work to get it to this stage.  We know it's just the beginning and there's a long way to go but there was a bit of history last night in getting the boys on the field and we're very proud of them.

DW: Does it still lay down a marker?

BT: Yeah I guess so.  I think the way that we've structured the programme the players are full-time professionals.  We have a programme in place that is very similar to an NRL programme.  They're on full supplement, we have full control over their diet, their physical and mental development so it was the only way we could do it.  We needed to make sure it was full-time and these guys they train three times a day, six days a week and that was the only way we could get them to the level that we feel that they're required to be at to be competitive in this competition.  I think we've served a bit of notice now in the Queensland Cup and on some of the other teams that we're not just there to make up the numbers.  We're there to really give it a real shake and we will be going out there every weekend with that intention.  It's going to add a lot of excitement to the competition, a lot of flair to the competition and anyone who was at the game last night I think would have really enjoyed it.

DW: And what is the level of anticipation back in PNG to the beginning of the season proper?

BT: It's enormous.  We knew that there was going to be amazing support back home but I'm even a little bit taken aback and shocked by the level of support that we're getting. I think we launched the Facebook page a few days ago and we've already got over seven thousand followers on that so it just shows people want the boys to succeed, they want to see them perform well and want to see them carry the flag of PNG proudly in Australia in probably the second toughest rugby league competition in the world.