Marum happy with Hunters’ style for 9s

Papua New Guinea coach Michael Marum, pictured, does not have any new tricks up his sleeve for the Pacific Games nines competition which starts tomorrow at the Sir John Guise Stadium.

With the 15-member team including 13 of his PNG Hunters players, Marum is banking on the side’s form and combinations to get them through the tournament.

“We’re going to stick with our usual game plan, we’ll go with what’s been working for us in the Q-Cup. We won’t change much at the Pacific Games nines,” Marum said.

The squad joined the rest of Team PNG at the Games Village on Tuesday and Marum said although there was excitement in the camp regarding playing in the country’s first Games 9s competition he was a little apprehensive about the risk on his charges.

“We’ll play and enjoy ourselves and hopefully there won’t be any major injuries or things like that especially with our Q-Cup games coming up.

“Obviously nines is a different environment and style but we have the players and talent to do well. 

“We just have to manage through the competition.” PNG: Stargroth Amean, Ase Boas, Nickson Borana, Israel Eliab, David Lapua, Willie Minoga, Kato Ottio, Wartovo Puara, Gahuna Silas, Thompson Teteh, Bland Abavu, Lawrence Tu’u, Adex Wera, Rex Yallon, Noel Zeming.