Friends set to face off

THE SP PNG Hunters are excited about facing their former teammate Sylvester Namo in the Hostplus Cup round 9 clash at Jack Manski Oval in Townsville tomorrow (6.30pm kick-off).
Head coach Stanley Tepend said his men had been talking about it all week and they could not wait for the challenge that would also feature another Kumul Robert Derby.
“The Blackhawks have a number of PNG boys in Robert Derby, Zac Laybutt and former Hunter Sylvester Namo so it’s a challenge we are looking forward to,” Tepend said.
“Namo will be playing against his former teammates that would be interesting. The boys have spoken about it all week and they can’t wait to face the Blackhawks.”
But mateship aside, Tepend said his men were exuding a level of confidence after knocking off the Cutters and Jets in successive weekends and were heading to Townsville with a wet sail.
“We’ve built momentum in the last two games and we just have to take that into this game,” Tepend said.
“We can score tries as you can see since round one. But it’s the defence that we need to improve on and we have been focusing on defence a lot.
“It’s a tough competition and defence wins games so we just have to get that right. We have to learn to defend for each other reduce the number of tries we concede.”
Meanwhile, winger Solo Wane said he could not wait to go up against his close friend Namo and the Blackhawks.
“Sylvester is actually my best friend but it would be different on the field because he will try to win games for his team,” the man from Komia, Upper Mendi, said.
“We can be friends off the field but not on the field.”