Newtown Chiefs building from experience in campaign

LEARNING from their participation in previous tournaments, the Newtown Chiefs are adjusting their tactics in the upcoming Niu Power Ltd Sports Tok 7s, team manager Mitch Jonah says.
Chiefs, who made their Sports Tok 7s debut in 2021, played in their first bowl qualifier in 2022 and made it into last year’s cup qualifiers only to be knocked-out in the cup semifinal by eventual tournament winners Bialla Suaras.
Jonah told The National that despite past results from previous tournaments, they would give their best this year, putting faith in their new crop of players to deliver the results.
“With lessons learnt from our past tournaments, we try to do better this year,” Jonah said.
“We started our preparations since early February for both our Under-20 team and open men’s.
“We have named our final team for the U20. They are an integral part of the team as that’s where we develop our players. So far we have three U20s from last year joining our open men’s.
“Preparations have been good so far and we are excited about the players we have at our disposal.”
Following minimal changes to the squad with the loss of few firepower, Jonah said they have gained few players such as former PNG Pukpuks forward Eddie Ramit and former Hela Wigmen winger Andrew Solo.
He said Ramit and Solo would be backed by 2023 Newtown Chiefs player of the year Misiel Matapere and Raymond Liri.
With the omission of speedster Henry Sukumbal, the young guns from Edai Town are hungry to fill that void.
“We are more focused on our own preparation and game plans. We believe in our boys to go out and play to their very best. It’s all about going through our process,” he said.
“We are a young team that is learning every day. It’s more about leaders and characters both on and off the field.”
Jonah said their final open men’s squad would be announced this week.