Future stars get taste

The National Sports

By HUXLEY LOVAI
THIS year’s SP Hunters training squad has provided four young emerging talents the chance to experience the high intensity pre-season training at the elite level.
The four players Muka Peter Kula, Joseph Mocke, Aidan Arusa and Thompson Yakumba where identified from the PNGRFL academy system as players with the potential to break into the Hunters squad in the near future.
The four where in the thick of it along with senior players going through the paces under Hunters coach Michael Marum.
“The future of the Hunters lies with these young players coming through. We’re doing the right thing by bringing them into our programme and introducing them to training at the elite level.
“Hopefully in the next couple of years they will be full time Hunters players,” Marum said
The rookies where given a taste of the gruelling training schedule and high performance standards demanded of the Hunters players.
Arusa from the Central, who plays for Royals in the Port Moresby Rugby League competition, was given a crash course on the realities of the Hunters regime.
“Getting selected for the training programme was the easy part. The training was very difficult, now I know what it takes to step up to the next level,” Arusa said.
Mocke from Madang echoed similar sentiments: “Coming in, I thought it would be sort of like club training. To keep up with the training system is really hard, you need to step up and give  hundered per cent to meet the coach’s expectations.”
Port Moresby-based Kula and Yakumba of Enga both expressed their satisfaction in making it to a Hunters pre-season programme.
“It’s been very difficult, but I am happy that I’ve made it this far. We are all here to learn from this experience,” Yakumba said
Marum said the four players would re-join their clubs to build on the knowledge and skills picked up at the Hunters camp.
Their progress would be monitored by the Hunters coaching staff.
“They will continue to train with the Hunters and hopefully this experience will guide them to bigger things,” Marum said