I’m excited to be back home with SP Hunters

HELLO everyone, welcome to the first edition of Churchie’s Comment for the year in your favourite rugby league newspaper — The National.
It’s so good to be back home in Papua New Guinea since early November and back coaching the SP Hunters.
By now, we all know what lies ahead for the Hunters for the 2021 season.
While it’s a huge undertaking to relocate to Queensland, Australia, we are thankful to our naming-rights sponsor in South Pacific Brewery for their continued support.
Also to Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited for coming back on board as platinum sponsors.
There are others as well who have pledged their support.
We need your support and understanding in a season we will spend away from PNG.
The players are making a huge sacrifice for PNG. Had we chosen not to compete in 2021, we most likely would have lost our position in the Intrust Super Cup competition.
There would have been no guarantee of us getting that position back anytime soon. This would have had a negative impact on the game moving forward.
I want to thank the families and friends of the Hunters staff and playing group who have chosen to relocate.
It is the time for our loved ones we sacrifice and without your support, this will be extremely difficult.
I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, I know how challenging it can be to relocate to another country and be away from your partner, children and extended families.
We have worked hard in the pre-season to address the challenges that lie ahead of us in 2021.
We also ask that our fans understand that at times across the year, the players will need your support and words of encouragement.
We don’t want to use the relocation to Queensland as a reason for poor performances and the players are aware of that. It’s more about how we mentally approach the season.
We have identified other Papua New Guineans who have left PNG and been successful, many of whom have left our shores alone and had success.
We are fortunate in that we will be a group of 36 living, training and playing together.
We saw in 2020 across all the major sports in Australia that living together in a camp environment had remarkable success for relocated teams.
We have named 11 new faces to the Hunters squad, most of whom are 19-22 years old.
I am excited to give these youngsters an opportunity and exposure to more talent scouts.
With us right under the nose of National Rugby League clubs, it gives us an opportunity for our players to attract some interest and be monitored weekly is one bonus for us in Queensland.
We won’t officially welcome assistant coach Paul Aiton on board until we exit the isolation period after relocation.
Paul has been in touch each week for updates on how we are progressing and I sense the excitement in his voice about adding value to the squad.
I know the players and staff will be just as excited for what Paul brings to the Hunters, as I am.
The relocation also presents us with the ability to bring in some highly-qualified consultants to support the programme and mentor players and staff throughout our stay in Queensland.
The ability to build capacity through the Hunters programme will have a huge flow-on affect for the game once we return to PNG.
Our staff can gain the next level of qualification and the opportunity for players to gain level one coaching or strength and conditioning qualifications.
This increases the number of people across the game in PNG that have these qualifications. That can only be a good thing for the game and the rugby league people in PNG.
Until next week when I come your way for more updates, let’s respect and be kind to each other.

Cheers,
Matt