Give us PM’s 13

By JACK AMI
RUGBY league administrator Jacob Ivaroa has called on the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League board to rethink their policies and guidelines regarding the selection of players and team management for the annual Prime Minister’s 13 fixture.
Gulf Isapea board chairman Ivaroa suggested that the PNGRFL could give the PNG Prime Minister’s 13 responsibilities to the PNG National Rugby League to administer. Ivaroa made the comment after Saturday’s PM’s 13 fixture, which Australia won 58-0.
He said the PM’s 13 match was the only real representative chance for Digicel Cup players, and as such, if the PNGRFL were keen on enabling the semi-professional domestic competition to grow, then handing over the reins to the PNG NRL was a step in that direction.
He said national coach Michael Marum had given preference to Digicel Cup players for the 2016 fixture by naming over half of the 25-man squad from the competition, while also picking the captain, Gulf Isapea’s Bernard Goma to lead the side, and making this year’s clash about the Digicel Cup and local talent made sense.
He said the PNG side would continue to be beaten by large margins because of the confusion in selection policy and the lack of preparatory time for the side in the lead up to the annual fixture.
“Australia thrashed us 58-0 in front of a sold out NFS and while it was a successful occasion for the sport and the fans it was disappointing for the team,” Ivaroa, pictured, said.
“We can’t blame anyone for the loss but we can take steps to ensure we put up a better challenge to Australia next time and being clear about who will be picked for the game beforehand in terms of a clear and set selection policy as well as having a serious and longer build up is the way to go.”
Ivaroa said a one-week training camp for the team heading into a match against NRL standard talent was woefully inadequate.
He said it would be better for the development of the national domestic competition in the long run if it was the sole source of the PM’s 13 side.
“The Digicel Cup is a feeder competition for the Hunters and having its players picked exclusively for the PM’s 13 is a good thing because we can then focus longer on the talent here and then run them against the Australians.
Ivaroa said the same applied for the coaching and technical support staff.
He added that Marum should remain as overall coaching director but it would be good to have a Digicel Cup coach take the reins for the PM’s 13 side.
Port Moresby Rugby League chairman Dr James Naipao and former Hela Wigmen coach Andiki Andrew backed Ivaroa’s suggestion saying the PNGRFL needed give the PNG NRL more support in order to be the talent-producing competition everyone wanted it to be.