Digicel Cup player of the year in Hunters’ sights

SP Hunters coach Matthew Church says he is looking to bring Digicel Cup player of the year Joshua Lau into his train-on squad as a replacement for sacked utility Edwin Ipape.
The Hostplus Cup side said earlier this week that Papua New Guinea international Ipape was sacked a fortnight ago due to ill-discipline.
Coach Matthew Church said yesterday that he would make the change in the New Year, depending on Lae Tigers back Lau’s fitness.
“At the moment, we are not going to make any replacements for Ipape before the Christmas break,” he said.
“But we will be looking to bring in Lau when we return for pre-season training in the New Year.
“It depends on Lau’s broken arm.”
Enga native Lau had been in scintillating form, producing line-breaks regularly before he suffered the injury in the finals last season.
Meanwhile, Church said the team were revisiting what they had learned in the past five weeks of training.
“We will continue revision in the remaining sessions before we break camp on Wednesday,” he said.
“We are starting to put it all together, we started with increments and then build into bigger blocks.
“So we will finish our training with focus on defence so it is about putting all those little things into practice.”
Church said competition for the final 26 spots was healthy with players giving their best at training.
The Australian said he would name his final squad in the New Year.