League squeezing playoffs into one week

THE Port Moresby Rugby Football League A-Grade semifinals are scheduled to kick off today at the Oil Search National Football Stadium, with the grand finals set for Sunday.
League administrator Meke Maino told The National yesterday that they had to squeeze the semifinals and grand finals into one week so that the competition could end before Christmas. “The two weekends after this week is Christmas and New Year and there will be a lot of distractions for the players,” he said.
“We don’t want to put on hold the finals and resume next year as it will only kill the momentum and the hype of the competition.
“It makes sense to squeeze the remainder of the finals into week and let all players enjoy the festive season with their families.”
The semifinals will see minor premiers Kone Tigers face Butterflies (1.30pm kick-off) and Paga Panthers meet Tarangau (3pm).
Butterflies will be eager to continue their dream run after finishing the regular season in the bottom half of the top-eight. Meanwhile, Sisters — who got thrashed by Paga in last week’s major semifinal — will have another shot at making the grand final when they take on Souths in preliminary final (12.30pm).
The winners will play Paga who are on standby for Sunday’s grand final.