Pre-World Cup planning afoot

Greetings to all our rugby league family and welcome to our 23nd edition of Fulltime Reserve, a weekly column to discuss all matters rugby league in our favourite newspaper The National.
The Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation and the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) this week announced the cancellation of all international programmes for the year due to the ongoing restrictions on international travel as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The cancelled international programmes for the PNG LNG Kumuls and the Oil Search PNG Orchids include the Oceania Cup, the Prime Minister’s 13 clash against Australia and the end-of-year New Zealand Kiwis and Ferns tours to PNG.
This is a great setback for our national teams and our supporters as we were all looking forward to these events to build on the success that the Kumuls and Orchids have achieved over the last few years and importantly for our national teams’ build-up to next year’s Rugby League World Cup in England.
Whilst we are all disappointed by these announcements, PNGRFL is encouraged by some great news this week with the confirmation by the International Rugby League and the England World Cup organising committee that next year’s event was confirmed to go ahead as scheduled.
PNGRFL has received the participation agreements for both the Kumuls and Orchids which is being reviewed and will be signed next week, confirming our national teams’ participation.
PNGRFL has also been planning for the possibility of the cancellation of this year’s internationals and has been working on a couple of initiatives to ensure that our elite programmes continue to be maintained to set the foundations for next season and the World Cup.
Among these initiatives is the SP Hunters’ preparations for the 2021 Intrust Super Cup Season.
The extended 2021 Hunters training squad will be announced at the end of the Digicel Cup season for pre-season to start in mid-November.
PNGRFL is also planning a couple of elite end-of-season programmes which are being finalised in consultation with our key partners and stakeholders and announcements on this will be made over the next few weeks.
Our plans for the 2021 international calendar leading to the World Cup, including pre-season trial matches, are also being finalised with our domestic and international partners and these will also be confirmed before the start of next season.
Join us on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to follow this and more rugby league stories.
We can also be contacted via [email protected] to provide feedback on issues covered in this column weekly or ask questions on matters that you would like us to discuss.
Until next week, may the grace, love and care of our Good Lord be with you.

Cheers,
Sandis