Enforcer shines bright in first year

 By JOHN PANGKATANA

UNKNOWN Kemele Hela Wigmen enforcer Randy Joseph is determined to make the grade.

The pocket dynamo with his dyed ginger hair stepped out in a big way to raise eyebrows when he bombarded the Stop & Shop Port Moresby Vipers defence in a spectacular Digicel Cup clash opener three weeks ago. 

For a moment he reminded fans of another muscle-bound character by  the name of Joe Gispe, who like Joseph, looked quite ordinary until he pulled on his Port Moresby Vipers jumper and became 10 times taller and ran at the opposition without care.

The meteoric rise of this unknown talent has yet to be harnessed by former champion playmaker and now Wigmen coach, Stanley Hondina.

The Wigmen lost to the Vipers by a mere four points and Joseph earned more than a few admirers for his direct running style. However, since then reality has hit with the Wigmen recording three successive losses.

For Joseph it has so far been a roller-coaster ride as he tries to juggle new-found fame and fortune as a full-time footballer.

The 20-year-old, like the majority of the Wigmen, is not only making his debut into the semi-professional Digicel Cup rugby league competition, but has travelled by plane and come to Port Moresby for the first time.

It’s a huge leap from playing for his local Makora Memorial Souths club in the Porgera competition in Enga, near the Hela border … to now be mixing with the best in a nation-wide competition.

“I’m just so happy to be in the team and I’m going to do my best to play well” he said. 

 He can thank Enga Governor Peter Ipatas for contributing towards his discovery when the representative Porgera Nuggets took part in the Ipatas Cup in Mendi.

Scouts snapped him up and after several trial matches and he is one of two Engans in the Wigmen outfit.

Wigmen franchise owner Firman Joseph is the major player in discovering talent, especially in Southern Highlands and Hela provinces.

“We have Kumul potentials throughout our vast mountains and valleys just waiting to be given that opportunity. Randy is just one of the lucky few, and not the last especially from the Hela region where we will be targeting after we establish ourselves,” he said.

 “We may not win now, but give Randy and his young teammates a few more years and you will not be able to contain them.” 

Randy and his Wigmen will head to Mount Hagen for their fourth round hit-out with the Wamp Nga Eagles this Sunday.