Wigmen, Tumbe do battle

Waine-led Helas out to spoil Waghi party on Sunday

By JACK AMI
THE Hela Wigmen will look to continue their fairytale run when they face Waghi Tumbe in the Digicel Cup preliminary final at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby on Sunday.
The Andiki Andrew coached-side are the giant killers of the top-six playoffs, having accounted for the Rabaul Gurias and defending champions Goroka Lahanis over the past two weekends.
And Sunday’s sudden-death fixture presents another opportunity for the Wigmen, who snuck into the finals at the Enga Mioks’ expense, to continue their gate-crashing run as they look to make the grand final for the first time since their 2014 premiership-winning season.
However, Waghi Tumbe know second chances don’t come around that often and when they do, there’s only one way to go about it — take it by the scruff of the neck and make the most of the opportunity.
The Jiwaka government-sponsored side are coming off a 12-20 major-semifinal loss to the Lae Snax Tigers, who play the winners of Sunday’s encounter on Sept 8.
Coach Francis Ray will have Tumbe, who finished the regular season in second spot, pumped as they look to turn in a performance worthy of a spot in the grand final.
On paper, Tumbe should come out victors with the likes of SP Hunters skipper Moses Meninga, Enoch Maki, Baundo Aba, Justin Yoka and Joe Frank in their ranks.
But Wigmen chairman Andy Hetra has other ideas.
“No Hunter, no Kumul, no worries. We’re coming into this match hungrier. We’ll be aiming to put in a solid performance throughout the entire 80 minutes,” he said. “We have nothing to lose. We have come a long way from sixth spot, defeating consistent campaigners Gurias and Lahanis. We’ve been the underdogs since the start of the finals.
“We respect Tumbe. Tumbe are a quality side, having done so well this season.
“We regard Tumbe as our brothers. Whoever wins will represent the Jiwaka-Hela family in the grand final next week. We encourage all our fans to come and support our team in the true spirit of rugby league and may the best side win.”
Andrew will be relying on in-form forward Emmanuel Waine, who is just as solid in attack as he is in defence, to lead the way.
“Our defence has helped us get this far so we’ll need to be on our game this weekend,” he said.
Ray agreed that defence was a priority, saying, a few players were nursing bruises but were ready.