Hunters to put training into game

THEY have yet to play their first game of 2020 rugby league season but SP Hunters players learnt the game was bigger than scoring and winning.
They were told that along with their game, their preparation for life after rugby league would start almost immediately.
Matthew Church said the first step was to get the players well versed with the basics of the game.
“We had a lot of skills development during the Christmas so now we’re trying to put all of them together in a game setting,” he said.
“We sort of went right back to where you put your feet, when do you do it and when you’re passing from the ground or what you’re doing with your hand, or catching the ball. So we pulled it right back to the basics,” Church said.
The Hunters coach said he was going to introduce an “up-skilling education programme” for the Hunters. He said rugby league was a short-term career for a player and even a coach and that players should prepare for the future when they decided to stop playing.
“It’s a short window of time to maximise that opportunity (of playing rugby or coaching).
“Because of that, we are trying to introduce our players to some life skills to prepare them for the future. Education or qualification for workwise to send them out of the Hunters squad with, so that when they go or whenever they leave, they are going to move on better qualified.
“We need to make them better people, not just better players.”
The Hunters held their meet and greet session for the sponsors and the media on Saturday at the National Football Stadium.
SP Brewery managing director Ed Weggens thanked the PNGRFL and SP Hunters management and said that he was impressed with the way the Hunters club had picked up from where former Hunters coach Michael Marum had left.
“In the marketing world, you have to do something new and creative to be more successful,” he said.