Mead living the dream

PAPUA New Guinea has produced a string of talented rugby league players over the years, from Melbourne Storm cult hero Marcus Bai, to Neville Costigan and more recently Justin Olam. Any mention of talented national rugby league products has to include Kumuls stalwart David Mead.
Mead has had a unique career, one that has allowed him to travel the world and be part of many major rugby league moments. Not many players have played in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL), English Super League, City-Country and captained their nation at a World Cup, however, the Tubusereia native has done this all as a small winger.
“Enjoy the tough carries coming out of the corner, do your extras outside of normal training like kicking, catching and passing,” he said.
“There are times when you hardly touch the ball at training as a winger so it is important to maintain your hand-eye coordination with extra training.”
Mead debuted for the Gold Coast Titans in 2009, only a couple years after their inaugural season.
He played well early on before exploding onto the scene in 2011, where he scored 16 tries, as well as scoring one of the most spectacular tries in NRL history, scooping the ball with one hand off the bounce to score in the corner. When reminiscing, he remembers some great times.
The 2009 Titans squad included a plethora of household names such as Preston Campbell, Scott Prince, Mat Rogers and Luke Bailey.
“The early days at the Titans were exciting for me because I was young and looked up to the guys I was training and playing with,” Mead said.
“They were my idols while I was in high school, so I couldn’t believe I was in the same dressing room as them, getting ready to run out in front of big crowds.”
His impressive try-scoring feats were noticed by New South Wales selectors in 2014 and 2015, where he represented Country in the annual City-Country fixture twice.
Mead scored a double in the first game and one try in his second game for Country.
“The City-Country games were awesome,’ he said.
“Getting to play with players from other NRL teams and seeing how they prepared for games was interesting to me. I loved it.”
After countless successful seasons with the Titans, Mead moved to rival club Brisbane Broncos where he had a quiet season before relocating to France to play for the Catalans Dragons in the Super League.
He noted the cold weather as a major difference between both leagues.
“The strength and the weakness of the Super League is the cold weather,” Mead said.
“It is freezing so you have to be tough to play there, which is a positive, however living there is tough.
“Another weakness is being really far away from family.”
Mead again played well in the Super League, averaging a try every second game.
Even though many rugby league fans believe the NRL is superior to the Super League, he didn’t actually find it that way.
“To be honest, I didn’t find too many differences,” Mead said.
“If I had to pick one specifically, it’s that the outside backs’ decision making is better in the NRL.”

Whilst playing in both leagues, Mead featured as a regular for the Kumuls and is now their top try scorer of all time in international fixtures, crossing the line nine times to date.
In 2013 and 2017, he represented PNG in the Rugby League World Cup, with the honour of captaining the team in 2017.
“It’s always a proud moment to represent my family when I put on the Kumuls jersey,” Mead said.
He has blazed a path for more local talents to come through to the NRL and abroad, with several PNG natives playing in leagues across the world.
In the Queensland Intrust Super Cup, the SP Hunters are developing new first graders to hopefully field a Kumuls side that contend for a World Cup someday.
Mead sees this and is confident of a great future for PNG rugby league.
“Xavier Coates is an extremely exciting talent for PNG,” he said.
“There are also a couple of other talented guys playing in the Hunters as well, which is promising.”
Currently playing at the highest level for both club and country at 32 years old, he hopefully still has several seasons ahead of him, however, he is already thinking, like many others, about what life looks like after rugby league.
“I am still thinking of what I want to do,” Mead said.
“Possibly some community work like giving advice to younger people on what I was taught and what I have learnt from the game.
“Anything to do with helping out people is of huge interest to me.”
He is paving a great career at the top level of rugby league. His path is unique compared with others, however, that is why he is so fascinating.
Everywhere he has played he has scored tries and for the Broncos’ sake, let’s hope he continues that for seasons to come. – everythingrugbyleague