Boas will bring a lot of energy

Hello everyone, welcome to the fourth edition of Churchie’s Comments for the year in your favourite rugby league newspaper — The National.
Well, it’s been a busy week for me at the SP Hunters while we continue to map our way to Queensland.
As announced earlier in the week, the South Pacific Brewery-sponsored Hunters have managed to secure one of PNG’s favourite sons in Watson Boas for the start of the 2021 Intrust Super Cup season.
In an arrangement with Doncaster, this will see the English Rugby Football League allow Watson to be dual registered while he awaits approval to fly to the United Kingdom (UK).
Watson has been training with us for some time to maintain his fitness whilst also allowing him to be around some of his long-time teammates.
I met with Watson in Port Moresby after we resumed pre-season training last month and asked if he’d like to keep fit by training with the Hunters.
Knowing Watson has a World Cup year with the PNG LNG Kumuls in 2021, I felt it was the best way to support him.
Before he was allowed to train with us, I told him I would have to clear it with Doncaster first.
My first conversation with Doncaster chief executive Carl Hall was around how we both wanted to support Watson.
With the ongoing world situation around Covid-19 affecting the season starting in the UK, further discussions happened in the following weeks around how we could both benefit from a dual registration.
I really have to thank Carl for showing genuine care for Watson’s situation and for seeing the benefits for not only both clubs but for the game as a whole.
It was great to talk with someone not only passionate about the game but also supporting the people in it by being open to this arrangement.
Anytime you add an Intrust Super Cup premiership-winning and test halfback to your squad is a great addition.
Having worked around Queensland Rugby League and National Rugby League programmes since the Hunters’ inception, I had seen Watson play often.
I must admit it wasn’t until I saw Watson play the test against Great Britain in Port Moresby 2019 that I thought to myself “I’d really love to coach this guy”.
I was in attendance, I’d accepted the role as Hunters coach and my announcement was being made in the few days after the Test.
What I saw in the Test made me think this person is an absolute competitor.
He was making tackles on the other side of the field, he was busy in attack and just brought a lot of energy to the team.
It’s really hard to coach competitiveness, most people are just born with it. They are driven to do things and turn up not because they are needed, but just in case they are needed. That’s a huge difference.
Watson, by nature, is also a leader by actions. He is not afraid to tell someone that they need do things better.
In his first session, he stopped the drill and pointed out to the players that they needed to have more energy, that’s what competitors do.
With their actions, they invariably tell the group “ask more of yourselves”.
Competitors raise standards. They only ever want to get beaten by someone that’s just purely more talented than them, they never want to get beaten because they got outworked. Champions do extra.
Until next week, stay safe, play safe and let’s all respect and be kind to each other.

Cheers
Matt