Marum keeps faith

 By ISAAC LIRI
PAPUA New Guinea Hunters captain Ase Boas is set to play his 50th Q-Cup game against the Sunshine Coast Falcons on Saturday.
Coach Michael Marum said to reach 50 games at this level was a milestone for any player and congratulated the 28-year-old, who made his debut with the Hunters as player No.32 in 2015.
“For Ase to reach his 50th game is a big thing for him and hopefully he can repeat his performance from last week, where his game management, running, passing and kicking game was really good,” Marum said, while announcing an unchanged starting 13 for the Round 6 fixture.
“He’s leading the side well; the players are listening to him and he combined well with his brother Watson in the Cutters game,” Marum said.
Apart from the skipper’s achievement, Marum also praised fullback Bland Abavu, pictured, for another impressive performance in the last two matches, scoring try doubles in each game.
“Bland is a good player and has improved a lot since coming into the system two years ago and in his third year, he has taken his game to the next level. He is an attacking threat on the edges so he keeps the No.1 jersey for the game against the Falcons.”
Forward David Loko was also named on the bench after recovering from a bout of dengue fever.
“David has been named on our bench as the 19th man, so he’ll have to train for another week before he can play.
“David attended field sessions this week and he looks good, but again, we’ll have to get clearance from the medical team.”
The 20-man squad is virtually the same as last week’s, with the only  change being Lawrence Tu’u replacing Ishmael Balkawa on the bench.
PNGRFL Academy forward Muka Peter Kulu is in the squad as 18th man.
“Muka is a one of the Under-20 Academy players who came into the programme last year. He was selected from the U20 zone trials and is now part of the squad,” Marum said.
The travelling 18 leaves for Brisbane on Friday for the Saturday game at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
Hunters: 1. Bland Abavu 2. Stargroth Amean 3. Israel Eliab. 4. Willie Minoga 5. Karo Kauna Junior 6. Ase Boas (C) 7. Watson Boas. 8. Henry Wan 9. Gahuna Silas 10. Esau Siune 11. Nixon Put 12. Moses Meninga 13. Stanton Albert; Reserves: 14. Noel Joel 15. Rhadley Brawa 16. Enoch Maki 17. Lawrence Tu’u 18. Muka Peter Kulu 19. David Loko 20. Wawa Paul.