Hunters eye first away win against Devils

THE SP PNG Hunters are on another tough road trip to Brisbane this weekend when they take on the Norths Devils in their round 5 Q-Cup clash at Bishop Park.
The Saturday rugby league fixture sees the third-placed Devils hosting the eighth-placed Hunters in a match coach Michael Marum is keen to show they can compete outside PNG after faltering in their last two matches in Queensland.
They lost to the Sunshine Falcons (24-10) and the Northern Pride (26-14 in their last two away fixtures.
The Hunters have to deal with having to adjust to life without Stargroth Amean, who played his final game for the club in their 32-18 win over the Tweed Heads Seagulls last Saturday in Port Moresby.
Amean chose to return to university to pursue a science degree.
Amean’s No.1 jersey has been handed to Adex Wera, who according to Marum, is his most experienced back.
“Adex was our first choice to play fullback after Stargroth left us. He’s played centre for a while now but he’s played fullback before so we’re hoping he does the job for us,” Marum said.
Marum made it clear that no one had a lock on the fullback spot and he would be considering several players for the role.
“Adex had a few errors last time at fullback so he needs to play well to keep that spot.
“We’ve got other players in the squad who can play there like Brendon Gotuno and Edene Gabbie but they’re still very new to this level, so we’ll see.”
Marum said the main quality that he needed from his No.1 was to talk to the front line and help direct players on defence and to run in support off the halves.
“Adex is experienced and can talk to the guys so we need him to step up.”
The other notable change to the backline sees former Pukpuk sevens star Butler Morris coming back into the side in the centres — a position he has yet to play in the code — in place of the injured Willie Minoga (right shoulder).
“With Willie out Butler moves in from the wing. He’s been with the Hunters for a couple of seasons now so the experience is there and that’s important because we need guys communicating and organising on defence,” Marum said.
Marum said with Junior Rau also making his debut for the Hunters in the centres he was counting on everyone being switched on for the Devils, who would be a tough proposition on their home turf especially coming off a loss (31-18) to Wynnum Manly last round.
“We know they’ll want to play well to make up for last week’s loss to Wynnum and we have to meet that challenge.”
Marum singled out Norths halfback Todd Murphy as the opposition player they needed to contain.
“Todd’s been playing some really good footy for them and we know a lot of their plays come off him so we need to make sure he doesn’t dominate.” The Hunters 18-man squad flies out today and returns home on Sunday.
A win over the Devils would set up next week’s round 6 clash against the Redcliffe Dolphins before their next home fixture the following round against the Souths Logan Magpies.
Hunters: 1. Adex Wera 2. Edene Gabbie 3. Junior Rau 4. Butler Morris 5. Brendan Gotuno 6. Ase Boas (c) 7. Charlie Simon 8. Moses Meninga 9. Wartovo Puara Jr 10. Adam Korave 11. Nixon Put 12. John Andy 13. Rhadley Brawa; Reserves: 14. Watson Boas 15. Baundo Aba 16. Julius Yokopa 17. Muka Peter Kulu 18. Patrick Morea.
Rd 5 Fixtures: Sat, April 7 – Townsville Blackhawks v Tweed Heads Seagulls, Ipswich Jets v Northern Pride, Norths Devils v PNG Hunters, Mackay Cutters v Sunshine Coast Falcons; Sun, April 8 – Central Queensland Capras v Burleigh Bears, Souths Logan Magpies v Wynnum Manly Seagulls, Easts Tigers v Redcliffe Dolphins.