Simbiken to put his body on the line

REDCLIFFE Dolphins speedster Jedidiah Simbiken, pictured, says he is ready to put his body on the line for Papua New Guinea at the inaugural Rugby League World Cup Nines in Sydney, Australia, from Oct 18-19.
Simbiken, who scored five tries in 12 appearances in his debut season with the Intrust Super Cup side, is among eight Australian-based players in coach Michael Marum’s 16-man squad.
The East Sepik native, who averaged 87.8 running metres per match this season, said he was hopeful of debuting for the Kumuls.
“When the coach messaged me to join the squad, I was excited about representing my country,’’ Simbiken said.
“I will not hesitate to put my body on the line for PNG.
“When I joined the Kumuls camp, which started on Monday, I realised that most of the boys play together so our combinations will be alright.
‘’All year, we play 13s which is different from nines so most of us will need to quickly adjust to the shorter format.
‘’It is a fast game and at this level, we will be playing against world’s top players from Australia and New Zealand in the same pool so it’s going to be a tough for us.
“But we’ll concentrate on our own training and what we do in camp.
“Our attack and defence will have to be good when we take the field in Sydney.”