Kumuls take first step with Big Mal

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THE Kumuls 2013 World Cup squad will be chosen on strict fit­ness and performance-based standards never before experienced, Mal Meninga says.
Meninga, the newly appointed head of the Kumuls high-performance unit, said selection would take place after several planned camps.
The camps started yesterday in Lae and this first one will run until Thursday under Meninga and head coach Adrian Lam, with the first attendees taken through their paces at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium.
The camp is designed to provide specialised training and monitoring of PNG-based players to give them every opportunity to represent the country.
In an email through PNG Rugby League Foundation chief executive officer Brad Tassell, Meninga made it clear players would be assessed on a camp-to-camp basis to meet stringent testing, fitness and performance standards.
“The players invited to attend the first camp aren’t necessarily the players who will make up the final squad or even the ones who will be invited into the next camp,” he said,
“We will be assessing all the players during the year and adding or removing players to and from the squad from the first camp.
“It is based purely on performance and what they show us.
“If they don’t measure up to certain performance indicators, then they will not be invited to the next camp.
“No player should feel comfortable in their selection and think just because they have been invited to the first camp that they will be part of the final World Cup squad,” he said.
“And players who haven’t been invited to the first camp have every opportunity to impress and secure a spot for the next camp.
“It is all about performance and continuing to perform during the year.
“No spots are just handed on a platter.
“This is not a holiday and the players will have to work exceptionally hard every time and prove they deserve to be invited back.
“We will have to be very hard-nosed about this, it’s all about identifying the players who will perform at the World Cup and into the future for the Kumuls and there are no free rides with these programmes.”