Nine Hunters make test side

Sports

By JACK AMI
DEBUTANTS Rhadley Brawa and Junior Rau are among nine PNG Hunters named in the Kumuls side for the Pacific test against the Fiji Bati in Campbelltown, Sydney on Saturday.
The 18-man squad have the services of two players with lengthy NRL experience in Cronulla Sharks’ James Segeyaro and St George Illawarra Dragons’ Nene Macdonald.
Rhyse Martin (Canterbury Bulldogs), Kurt Baptiste, Lachlan Lam (Sydney Roosters) and Justin Olam (Melbourne Storm) are the other players from NRL clubs.
Importantly though, the team will included nine players from the Q-Cup’s reigning premiers, the Hunters, while veteran Kumuls forward Rod Griffin of the Townsville Blackhawks has also been named along with Ipswich Jets winger Richard Pandia and prop Luke Page from the Burleigh Bears.
PNGRFL chairman Sandis Tsaka reiterated that the team was picked from the NRL and Q-Cup competitions exclusively with the league announcing their selection policy last month: players from the country’s top tier domestic league (the Digicel Cup) would not be considered primarily because of the standard of the competition while releases and costs and logistics would not allow them to pick available talent such as David Mead and Wellington Albert from the English Super League.
“Digicel Cup players were not considered because of our policy to pick talent from higher level competitions for the test matches” Tsaka said.
The Kumuls squad will assemble in Sydney this evening where the captain would be announced.
National coach Michael Marum said Brawa and Rau had been rewarded for strong seasons.
“Rhadley and Junior have been consistent performers for the Hunters since the start of the year so they’ve earned their opportunity,” Marum said.
Brawa’s work rate and ability to play long minutes saw him pip other contenders for a forward’s berth most notably the impressive Sebastian Pandia (Jets).
Rau, meanwhile, has made the No.2 jersey his own at the Hunters and had strung together good performances since transitioning from the centres to the left wing.
Marum backed Tsaka saying due to the standard of the Digicel Cup competition no players would be considered for national representation which was a policy that simplified matters.
“This is another level and we have look at our best from the NRL, Super League, Q-Cup and NSW Cup for the tests,” Marum said.
Significant absentees from the side are Hunters five-eighth Ase Boas along with hooker Wartovo Puara Jr.
Marum said Boas had struggled to find the form that had earned him the Q-Cup player of the year award in 2017 and he had also just returned from illness and injury that had kept him out for the club’s last three games.
Hooker Puara, on the other hand, was competing for a place with Segeyaro and Baptiste and missed out.
Brawa and Rau join fellow Hunters Adex Wera, Thompson Teteh, Watson Boas, Stanton Albert, Nixon Put, Willie Minoga and Enoch Maki in the national side.
Tsaka said apart from Pandia, who debuted in last year’s Pacific test against Cook Islands, as well as Brawa and Rau, the rest of the players were from the World Cup squad.
The Kumuls jersey will have the APEC 2018 logo to promote the October event in Port Moresby. Kumuls: James Segeyaro (Cronulla Sharks), Nene Macdonald (St George Illawarra Dragons), Rhyse Martin (Canterbury Bulldogs), Justin Olam (Melbourne Storm), Kurt Baptiste, Lachlan Lam (Sydney Roosters), Adex Wera, Enoch Maki, Junior Rau, Nixon Put, Stanton Albert, Thompson Teteh, Watson Boas, Willie Minoga, Rhadley Brawa (PNG Hunters), Luke Page (Burleigh Bears), Richard Pandia (Ipswich Jets), Rod Griffin (Townsville Blackhawks).