Sepik league defers second Agmark Nines

SEPIK Rugby League has deferred its second Agmark Nines tournament to Nov 26-27 to avoid clashing with the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League-sanctioned trials scheduled for next month, says an official.
This followed the deferral of the Telikom affiliated leagues confederate trials by chief executive Stanley Hondina, of the sport’s national governing body, last week.
Sepik league project manager Bradley Simon told The National that their initial tournament dates (Nov 5-6) were good, but many players would be competing in the trials, so they had to reschedule.
“Our dates were fine but we didn’t want the tournament to clash with the trials,” he said.
“The zones trials and championships are coming up, but they have been differed due to the Coronavirus measures, so we had to move ours.
“If we were to proceed with our tournament then we wouldn’t have many teams in attendance because some of their players would be competing in the trials.
“We want a high-quality tournament by having the best teams taking part, so that is why we had to re-align it with the events of the governing body.
“The tournament will still go ahead, thanks to PNG Kumuls coach Michael Marum and Agmark Group of Companies chief operating officer Steven Nightingale who made sure that we have a date set.”
Simon said he was hoping the measure would not affect the tournament.
“The Agmark Nines is one of the big offseason tournaments,” he said.
“We are using the tournament to showcase our talents in Sepik as there will also be scouts and Digicel Cup coaches recruiting players for their 2022 squads.
“It’s a special event for our raw talents who want to make their mark against outside teams which may field Digicel Cup players.”