Hunters open to Segeyaro

COACH Matthew Church has left the door ajar for Papua New Guinea international and free agent James Segeyaro to make his way back into the game with the SP PNG Hunters.
The former Cronulla, Brisbane and Penrith No.9 is still serving a drugs ban after testing positive to ligandrol in September 2019 while he was still playing for the Broncos.
He had his two-year sentence reduced to 20 months earlier this year, which would permit him to play rugby league from June.
“We’d look at anything if we needed to top back-up,” Church told foxsports.com.au.
“Hooker is actually a role where we are pretty well off as we have the two most recent hookers to play for the Kumuls.
“But as I say, we want to project what we are – a pathway for Papua New Guineans.
“I’m not sure where James is at mentally with his ban.
“But if he was doing it for the right reasons and it would benefit us, then I’d certainly look at bringing someone of his calibre into the squad.
“You’d be mad not to consider someone of his talent, but it would have to be beneficial for us and if it would be a good fit, then we’d look at bringing him.”
Meanwhile, Hunters centre Jokadi Bire – who has been compared to Melbourne Storm star Justin Olam – looks set to light up Queensland’s Intrust Super Cup.
The 22-year-old scored 11 tries in the Digicel Cup last season before being added to the Hunters set-up this year.
The Hunters spent close to a month in quarantine in both Papua New Guinea and Australia and now – like the Warriors did last year – have based themselves in Australia without their families to ensure they don’t miss out on another year of competition.
One of 11 new faces in the Hunters squad, Bire debuted against the Wynumm Manly Seagulls in the season opener at Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast on Saturday.
“He’s one to watch,” Church said.
“He’s attracted quite a bit of interest already.
“The similarities between him and Olam are endless.
“They are both from the same province (Chimbu) and play in the same position.
“They are both educated with engineering degrees and came through the same club (Lae Snax Tigers) in the Digicel Cup.
“He knows, though, that he has to just focus on being the best Jokadi Bire.
“I’ve gone young (with my selections) because I know that’s the appetite of what the National Rugby League will want to see and (for the players) to have a 10-year career ahead of them.”
Olam has flourished into one of the NRL’s most destructive centres since joining Melbourne.
While he conceded that it took him some time to find his feet and adapt to a big city, the premiership winner said there was nothing stopping Bire from following the same path.
“Jokadi is a really tough kid,” Olam said.
“He’s strong and powerful, probably bigger than me.
“I’m happy for young players coming up.
“I’m going to reach out to him (Bire) and try and see if I can help.
“As a village boy, I can probably understand the adjustments and challenges he will face.”
The one downside to the Hunters squad is that they are light on numbers.
They had intended to travel to their Gold Coast base with 30 players. However, owing to a variety of circumstances, they have only flown with a squad of 24.
Church wants his side to be primarily full of Papua New Guinea talent.
But he says there are challenges in adding to his squad with the Covid-19 spike engulfing the country.
“We’d like to top that squad up in the next couple of weeks, depending on what happens,” he said.
“We’ll try top back up to 30 so if we do require talent, we’d look at the guys with PNG heritage who are filtered through the Intrust Super Cup.
“So I don’t know if we look at loan arrangements like the Warriors did.
“We would of course give an opportunity to the guys who have relocated first.” – Fox Sports