PETE’S PUNCHLINE

The National Sports

  • There was an executive meeting over the weekend to discuss the candidates for the PNG Sports Foundation executive director’s position. Apparently, a shortlist has already been made of three candidates. Hopefully, the right person is picked and endorsed by the Sports Minister and sent to NEC for approval. It would be great to have someone with a passion and dedication to sport and who has adequate management experience. I know a couple of guys who fit the bill, not sure if they made the shortlist. The last thing PNGSF needs is an appointment made for expediency.
  • I guess the All Blacks are back. They beat the Pumas 38-0 and probably did enough to win the Rugby Championship. Unfortunately, the Pumas picked a side with so many new faces that there really was no flow or continuity in their game plus they got out-scrummaged, conceding too many penalties and made a bunch of handling errors. You can’t beat the All Blacks with that kind of a performance. New Zealand played well enough to win. Their scrummaging was top shelf.
  • Ardie Savea is a great No.7 but an average No.8. He looks good against lesser opposition but he gets minced by the Boks, Poms, the Irish and French.
  • Congratulations to PC Ravens for their Cup-winning effort in the Sports Tok 7s. They beat Brothers 15-5 in a tense final at Bava Park yesterday. Man, these Ravens must be good. They’re certainly doing their best impression of the Kimbe Rebels, who were the dominant 7s side from the 2010s.
  • Douglas Lai was right about the West Eagles being too good for the Kokofa Cats in the POMAFL grand final on Saturday. The Eagles swooped in and beat the Cats 44-33 in an entertaining finale at Colts Oval. Great job to both sides for making the final and all the AFL community in Moresby for coming out to watch.
  • Oh dear, Liverpool can’t even beat Brighton. What’s going on? Liverpool are No.1 and Brighton are 16th.
  • Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton seemed to have run out of steam after leading the English Premier League at the start of the season. A different approach is worth considering.
  • Joe Joyce forced Daniel Dubois to quit in 10 rounds on Saturday. I don’t think Joyce is anything special but I guess he had enough to beat the youngster whom everyone including Frank Warren, his manager, said was going to be the next big thing. Loved how one pundit described Dubois as having the boxing skills of Seth Mitchell and heart of Victor Ortiz. Boxing fans will know what I’m talking about.
  • Errol Spence v Danny Garcia on Sat, Dec 5 (Dec 6 PNG time) should be a good dust up. We’ll see if Spence is “The Truth”. – PGTP ([email protected])