Higgins: Omae, Pumane to play

By KEVIN TEME
JOSEPH Omae is still the captain of the Mendi Muruks.
Franchise owner, Thomas Higgins in responding to yesterday’s story in The National said  both Omae and team manager Roderick Puname were still part of the playing squad but had also been elevated to positions in the franchise in 2011.
Higgins confirmed that Omae would still lead the team this year however, he did not give a reason why Omae wiould not play this weekend.
Speculation was that Omae had succumbed to knee injuries which have plagued him throughout his career and management would nurse him through the season
Meanwhile, Higgins said that the management had prepared the squad during the past three months playing  and winning seven trial matches.
Higgins said he believed the team had reached a high level of match fitness that would allow the players to maintain their intensity from week to week in the Digicel Cup.
The squad has repreplayers from all parts of Southern Highlands including Mendi, Pangia, Ialibu, Tari, Erave, Nipa and Koroba.
 “It is fair to say that Muruks is truly is a squad which is representative of the Southern Highlands as a whole and it reflects on why the SBSL Muruks are truly the flagship of Souther Highlands,” Higgins stated in an email sent to The National.
Higgins said the squad had a large contingent of youth, which was in line with the franchise’s policy of empowering youth to excel in sport.