The Papua New Guinea Hunters rugby league coach Michael Marum says his side needs to show big improvement if they're to be a contender come finals time in the Queensland Cup.
The Hunters were thumped 40-16 away to the Northern Pride in Cairns on Sunday.
Back to back defeats away from home means the Hunters will finish fourth in the the regular season standings, regardless of the result in Sunday's final round robin match against the Sunshine Coast Falcons.
But, with finals football just over a week away, Marum said they need to be better.
"It wasn't the result we were looking forward to. The boys didn't turn up to play and it was just one of those game where we just lacked the (ability) to score - I was surprised in the first half and the second half. We are playing semi finals this year and we need to play better football that what we did against Pride," he said.
"We want to make sure we get back to winning this weekend and then look forward to the finals games - it's starting next weekend. Again, there's no excuses about the players that have being suspended and some didn't play but the boys have been selected to go down (to Australia), we had a good week's preparation and on the day they didn't hold things together."
The Hunters remain unbeaten at the National Football Stadium this season and could end up hosting Sunshine Coast two weeks running, depending on other results this weekend.
PNG Hunters coach Michael Marum. Photo: EMTV
