Communication is key in sports, Lewis tells Hunters

The National Sports

NEVER give up talking on the field!
That was one of the key messages from Australian rugby league legend Wally Lewis when he visited the PNG Hunters on Saturday.
The former Kangaroo and Queensland Maroon great, who arrived in Port Moresby on Saturday, was a guest speaker at the 2017 SP Sports Awards.
He told the Hunters that communication was a vital aspect of the game of rugby league that made a team succeed, both on and off the field.
“Communication is very important; we have to talk about it off the field and on the field,” Lewis said.
“Never give up communicating. In Queensland, we wanted to be professionals, we wanted to be a great side, that is why we never gave up talking.”
Lewis said the professionalism that he has seen displayed in the Intrust Super Cup for four years has been outstanding.
“It’s good to see you have confidence in yourselves but never give up talking, and never give up on asking for help from those taking care of you like your coach. Never think you’re at a level that you don’t need to ask for help. Everybody needs help.”
Lewis said the Intrust Super Cup was one of the best second-tier competitions in the world producing players into the NRL and the input of the PNG Hunters has increased the standard of the competition.
“We can see teams in Queensland become more competitive when they play the PNG Hunters and that’s benefited the Queensland teams a lot too,” Lewis added.
He encouraged the Hunters to stick to their game plan every time they played because rugby league was a team sport.
“To be a consistent side you have to stick to your game plan. Every team that is successful sticks to its game plan.
“There might be times when you want to go outside of the game plan a bit, taking the risk and all that, but always remember the game plan,” Lewis said.
PNG Hunters coach Michael Marum, captain Ase Boas and team manager Arnold Krewanty thanked Lewis for his visit and his words of encouragement.  “It’s good to have someone like Lewis talk to us about the game; he’s one of the all-time greats of the game and his advice will really help us,” Boas said.