Four Hunters to be considered

By PARKER TAMBUA
SP PNG Hunters coach Matthew Church says his four players who stayed back in the country would be considered to re-join the team once the travel restrictions between Papua New Guinea and Australia are eased.
Church told The National yesterday that a PNG Kumul (not named) had reached out to him for a possible mid-season inclusion in the Hunters.
But the Australian said he would only consider the four players from the final squad.
The four players are believed to be Stanton Albert, Ase Boas, Gilmo Paul and Stanley Olo.
“We can’t make any consideration until there is a clear path that someone can travel from PNG to Queensland,” Church said.
“Consideration will be for those that did the pre-season with the Hunters as they were part of the final 30-man squad.
“Those guys had visa applications in place but didn’t travel for one reason or another.
“We are now guided by the Australian government and if we can get any more players from PNG, then we would, but the current restrictions don’t allow for that.”
Meanwhile, Church said he had told the Kumul that it was not an option to consider him at this stage.
“The player (not named) reached out to me and asked to be considered,” he said.
“However, it was too late for anything to happen at the time of his request.
“All I told him was that I would ask around and see if we needed a top up from our original 30.
“At this stage, no consideration has been made for that player.”