Mead vows to make a difference

BRISBANE winger David Mead has vowed to remain involved in the Papua New Guinea community following his retirement from international rugby league.
Mead scored a try in his last Kumuls game in PNG’s 24-14 win over the Fiji Bati at Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night.
The victory capped off a 15-year international career that spanned three World Cups and pre-dated Mead’s 171-game National Rugby League (NRL) career.
“The day before the game, the coaching staff and players organised for my family to come and visit and present me with my jersey,” Mead said.
“That was where my emotions came out.
“That meant everything to me.
“To top it off with a win was a huge bonus.”
While his teammates are striving for World Cup glory in England at the end of the year, Mead will be getting to work off the field.
He is still in the planning stage, but knows he wants to use his profile to guide young Papua New Guineans towards better futures.
“I do want to do something in PNG for the community,” Mead said.
“I’d probably fly in and out, and do a bit of work in the primary and high schools.
“We’re looking at putting a couple of programmes in to help kids realise that if there’s a dream they have, they can make it possible.”
Mead, who grew up in Tubusereia village outside Port Moresby, said the stories of his PNG teammates had helped inspire him to make a difference.
“I grew up in a village that didn’t really have much,” he said.
“But I was one of the ones who was a bit better off because I was half an hour from Moresby.
“You can only imagine what the rural communities were like.
“Most of the boys (in the PNG team) came from nothing, so they want to give back to the community and they see sports as a way to do that.”
Mead also plans to advocate for PNG’s inclusion in the NRL; PNG already fields the SP Hunters in Queensland’s Hostplus Cup and last month, the Government launched a bid to obtain the league’s 18th licence.
“A team in the NRL would give so much opportunity for kids around the country,” he said.
“If they see that it’s close to home, they’ll realise they can make the most of it.
“A lot may fall short of the NRL dream, but the process of setting goals and wanting to get there will make them better people.”
Mead, 33, is contracted with Brisbane until the end of the year, but has not played at NRL level yet this season.
The former Gold Coast outside back said he would not rule out playing on next season if his body felt up to the task.
“I’ll probably wait until the end of the year and decide,” he said.
Mead said he was confident the Kumuls had the potential to challenge at the World Cup in October.
“There are so many leaders in the team,” he said.
“Justin Olam, Alex Johnston, they’ve played a huge amount of NRL games.
“They’re in very good hands.”
– AAP