‘No Kumuls, no Hunters, no worries’

By ROBINSON LEKA
FOLLOWING their 16-14 win over defending champions Lae Tigers in last year’s Digicel Cup grand final, Hela Wigmen, who claimed their second title in their 11-year history, were the underdog story of the 2020 season.
The premiership win secured the Hela side a place as a finalist for the SP Sports Awards’ national performance of the year honour, which was an unlikely achievement, given they were under rookie coach Charlie Wabo, had several new players in key positions and had the memory of finishing runners-up the previous year.
“It was a surprise for us, we thought that the premiership win last year was the icing on the cake,” Wigmen franchise chairman Andy Hetra said.
“We thought that was it but to be nominated as a finalist for the award is like an added jewel on the crown for us to recognise what the team did last year.
“It comes back again to the effort, commitment and consistency that the club has displayed over a number of years.
“People wrote us off last year but to appear again in back-to-back grand finals only goes to show the depth at the club.
“To be recognised and nominated is something that we’re really grateful for and happy about.”
The Wigmen motto last season was “No Kumuls, No Hunters, No Worries” and it became the foundation of their Cup campaign with the inexperienced and youthful team playing above and beyond expectation.

Under former Kumuls rake Wabo, the young Wigmen outfit managed a regular season record of nine wins, two losses and a draw to finish second before playing their way through the finals series and then upsetting the Tigers in a grand final rematch. Downstream processing vital
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Hetra said the title win proved fruitful for the club’s efforts in developing and producing representative players with Wigmen players earning eight spots in the 2021 SP Hunters squad, the highest number of players from a single Digicel Cup franchise.
“Irrespective of the players, it is about the self-determination to come out and we had a good number of players in 2019 who made the Hunters,” he said.
“Then again last year, we had eight players called up with one (Valentine Culligan) opting not to relocate with the Hunters to the Gold Coast due to study commitments.

“It was a very high number of players we produced last year who made their inception into the Hunters but then again, credit to the players who’ve stuck to their goals to make it to the next level.
“When we recruit players, we basically advise them that when you come to the Wigmen, we are preparing you for higher responsibilities and we’re very selective to give that opportunity because the players we groom are hungry and want to excel.
“It only gives us the feeling that we are doing the right thing to groom players to be competitive and send them up to the next level.”

Another standout for the Wigmen last year was the promotion of Wabo from assistant coach in 2019 to head coach in 2020.
Wabo, who is a founding member of the Wigmen side that won their first title in 2014, was given the honour of leading the Wigmen after the departure of head coach Andiki Andrew.
Hetra pointed out that Wabo’s role in the club in his rookie year as head coach was a massive influence for the young side.
“It comes back to the team culture, Wabo is not new to the Wigmen, he’s been a player and he basically understands what the expectations are,” he said.

“We are so grateful to have a man of his calibre who was a Kumul and represented Papua New Guinea consistently over a decade.
“For him to come back and coach the Wigmen was a big bonus for the club and I give credit to him for mentoring the next generation of players.
“We want to be a production club that doesn’t necessarily keep players but transition them to the next phase of their careers.
“We believe in the system we have and we know that the players will deliver and we are primed to play competitively this year to defend the Cup.”