We will take it one game at a time: Marum

SP PNG Hunters coach Michael Marum says his side will be taking one game at a time and look to build on experience this season.
Taking the mostly inexperienced 31-man squad (16 rookies, seven with one season, eight with two or more seasons) into a season since the club’s foundation year in 2014, Marum said he knew his squad was in a rebuilding phase and would look to maximise each experience in a tough 2019 Intrust Super Cup season.
Despite being a side light on games and Q-Cup experience, Marum said he was confident he had a squad that could contend for a finals spot especially given that the playoff format had been changed from a top six to a top eight.
Marum said it was important the Hunters maintained their great home record where they had won over 90 per cent of their games at the Oil Search National Football Stadium.
“This is our sixth season and we’ve got a big squad with many new faces and the challenge is there to do well and we’ll definitely try our best,” Marum said.
“We’re confident that we’ll be competitive this year because we’ve trained well and everyone is hungry.
“It’s going to be a tough long season and we’ve just got to make sure we train well, execute, learn from every game and we should be okay.”
Marum said the 12-week preparation had put the 31 players in top physical condition and despite not getting the opportunity to test themselves in a trial match they would ready for their first game on March 10 in Tweed Heads, NSW.
Marum said he would likely use more than 25 players during the course of the season but admitted that at one or two would probably not get a chance however being in a large squad was beneficial for everyone.
Marum said he thought his 2019 squad had talent and ability that was on par with the championship-winning group from 2017.
With the departure of key talent over the off-season the Hunters will be led by foundation player Adex Wera with Moses Meninga his deputy.
The other players who form the Hunters senior core include Stanton Albert, Enoch Maki and Charlie Simon while Bland Abavu is back after a one-year stint with the Fassifern Bombers in Ipswich.