Rugby League year nears end

GREETINGS to our rugby league family and welcome to the 24th edition of “Fulltime Reserve” column for this year, in our favourite rugby league newspaper – The National.
In spite of the many challenges faced this year with the Coronavirus pandemic, the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League’s (PNGRFL) domestic calendar is on course for its end-of-season programmes as all members look forward to the business end of our rugby league season.
The Digicel Cup will see the major semifinal between Waghi Tumbe and Mendi Muruks in Port Moresby this weekend with the winner to earn the right to play Lae Tigers in the grand final next week.
Similarly, all PNGRFL member associations across the country are completing their seasons with the final rounds of their competitions being played over the next couple of months.
Many of our member associations started their competitions late due to the pandemic and as a consequence have been required to run short seasons to meet the national championships guidelines for the year.
In line with the amended season calendar, the Kumul Petroleum National Schools Rugby League (NSRL) Championships for the Under-14s, U16s and U18s kick off this weekend, whilst the U20, men’s and women’s championships will kick off across four venues on Oct 2.
The four venues selected this year for the confederation championships are Kokopo (New Guinea Islands), Lae (Northern), Minj (Highlands) and Port Moresby (Southern).
The NSRL Championships kick off this week with the New Guinea Islands Confederation challenge to be played over two days in Kokopo from today. This will be followed by the Northern, Highlands and Southern Confederation Championships all running together at their respective venues in Lae, Minj and Port Moresby from Sept 11-12.
The confederation championships will be used to identify and develop the best emerging talents in each region to make up the four representative teams in each divisions that will then attend the national championships and high performance elite camps, scheduled for Port Moresby from Sept 20-25. The national championships and camps for the senior divisions are scheduled to be hosted in Lae from Oct 15-24.
These championships will also serve as game development tool with a trophy and individual performance awards, which will see the crowning of the champions in each division.
PNGRFL is also introducing a new All Stars Challenge Cup concept this year to follow the national championships and camps, and this is scheduled to be played in Port Moresby on Oct 24.
The Challenge Cup will see a U-20 Possibles v Probables, Women’s Possibles v Probables and Digicel Cup All Stars v National Championships All Stars. PNGRFL hopes that the Challenge Cup will provide a platform for the identification and development of the best domestic rugby league talents for our elite programmes such as the Hunters, PNG Orchids and Kumuls going forward.
Until next week, may the grace, love and care of our Good Lord be with you.

Cheers,
Sandis