By Chris Thompson 
In 2001 State of Origin Game 3 we saw Super Coach Wayne Bennett picked 8 Debutants for the final game of series along with veteran Allan Langer too. It was a master stroke from Bennett and a major coup to secure the victory and the series for QLD in 2001 .
Those 8 Debutants would go on to be play numberous games for QLD in the years to come and go onto reviving that QLD pride . It was a master stroke from Bennett with the previous years series defeat . 
Bennett decided to blood youth for the future and his trump card certainly payed off .
PNG Kumuls Coach Mal Meninga seems to be in the same predictament this year with selection for PM Xlll & Tonga Test Match. With disappointing results from last year 2013 WC Campaign a few current players are leaning towards the end of there careers . Is it time we choose a youth policy selection for this years PNG Kumuls . 
If we are working towards 2017 WC Campaign should we be picking upto 8-10 Debutants from U19's PNG Kumuls Nines Team. I understand we still need experience in this team to nurture the youth . But should this years PNG Kumuls squad be dominated by Debutants Youths for the Future .

Willie Minoga, described as the ‘freight train’, was thankful for his People’s Choice Award and thanked all his fans and SP PNG Hunters’ supporters for their votes.

Minoga was honoured with the Intrust Super Cup People’s Choice Award at the Queensland Rugby League gala dinner annual award last night in Brisbane.

He received over 1, 000 votes from the public both in PNG and Australia who participated in the online voting.

Minoga, on arrival from Brisbane today, thanked fans and supporters who were behind the team from day one.

“I am privileged to have participated in that level of competition and proud to have received the award,” he said.

Minoga is looking forward to more supporters next season and to increase his fan base but it depends on his performance.

“I have learned a lot from the competition after starting my career at the local level and moving up to the international level is overwhelming.

“I was excited and humbled when receiving the award because it was my first time,” Minoga said.

He added that if he was given the chance to play in NRL, he would definitely take it because that is what many of them are aiming for to bring PNG into the NRL competition.

Meantime, Garry Lo picked up awards for Top Try Scorer and Rookie of the Year on the night in Brisbane for scoring 25 tries this season, most of which were the best tries.

After an epic 2014 season with the SP PNG Hunters and cleaning out at the 2014 QCUP Awards night this week Garry Lo stated he is not sure if he will remain with the Hunters next year because they're already hearing rumors that he might be moving on to join another team next season.
PNG Rugby Football League and SP Hunters franchise club are yet to confirm this.

The Papua Team was made up of players that lived in the Papua region from Gulf , POM to Altoau .
The New Guinea Team was made up of players that resided in Highlands , NGI , Coastal players.

The annual Papua vs New Guinea match in 1974 ends with Port Moresby locked down for a whole week . The Riot Squad was called in and declared The State of Emergency of Port Moresby due to the Riots .

This would be the last Annual Papua vs New Guinea match to be played ever due to the Rioting . The New Guinea team had some legends of our game - John Wagambie , Weekiang Tse , Steve Malum . Baita Wari, Steve Tsang , Skerry Palanga .

PNG Kumuls Captain John Wagambie speaks about this game - "Myself and fellow team mate Weekiang Tse could not return to Bougainville for our jobs at Paguna mine on the BCL jet . The landowners of Aropa Airport also blockaded the tarmac. The were demanding compo for the airport land. John says eventually we got on Air Niugini and went to Buka then Aropa. He said "Good fun these days".

John recalls "The Standard of game was high and brutal. " No unecessary stops and starts due to dropped balls. The Expat players made the teams look international.
The New Guinea Seconds we won and New Guinea Firsts lost by 2 points . That triggered the Riot he says." 
These games some would say was PNG's version of The State of Origin they were played with great pride and skills but sometimes the supporters took it way too seriously .

The banning of this match made way for The Zones Championships later on . But this annual Papua vs New Guinea will always be part of our proud PNG rugby league tradition .

By Chris Thompson 

With the upcoming DIGICEL Cup All Stars Vs Zones All Stars Match will this be an Exhibition Match or will it be a legitimate push for PNG Kumuls selection . If it's going to be just an Exhibition Match I suggest we pick 2 players from each Franchise to make it evenly supported and give a opportunity for those teams who didn't make the finals are chance to shine .

But if the PNGRFL consider this being a legitimate selection process 
could we see any contenders from The DIGICEL Cup All Stars push for selection into PNG Kumuls Test Match against Tonga .

With inclusion of PNG Hunters and our PNG players abroad positions are certainly up got grabs with the amount of depth we have to choose from . Will any DIGICEL Cup players make there way into The Kumuls .

With the upcoming 2014 PM Xlll Match to kick off on October 12th . The players will head into camp on 21st September for 3 weeks prior excluding any overseas based players selected who are still in the finals.

This is great news for PNG squad Meninga will be spending 3 weeks in the PNG camp with the players prior to the PM Xlll Match . What a great opportunity for the players to have Meninga in camp for 3 weeks

Give him a chance some to spend sometime with the boys in camp will give Mal a chance to share his experiences with the boys . 
These 3 weeks in camp for Meninga will give him a chance to stamp his authority on his new game plan for Kumuls . 
Considering he hasnt spent much time in PNG this year now is his time to show the boys what he can bring to table

Today Australian Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens has named his intial train-on squad for this years upcoming PM Xlll and Four Nations. 
My question is why hasn't PNG Kumuls Coach Mal Meninga introduced this to PNGRFL this year for our preparations in the upcoming PM Xlll and Tonga Test Match.

Mal should have announced PNG Kumuls Intial train-on squad today with players from SP PNG Hunters , DIGICEL Cup and PNG players from abroad not in the finals to choose from . 
We have the PM Xlll and Tonga Test match coming up and if we want to beat the best we need to start preparing like Australian Kangaroos do every year .

The days of going into PM Xlll camp a week before should be over it's not the best preparation for this important game . With the amount of sponsors invested in Team Kumuls it's about time we took a professional approach. Players should be in camp right now to maintain there match fitness and skills levels .

Noel Zemming became the first ever PNG Hunters player to pass 100 points scored in a season – and he did it mostly coming of the bench. He scored 9 Tries and kicked 50 Conversions for a total of 136 For the season.

Garry Lo in his first season in the Intrust Super Cup took out the competitions top try scorer of the year award with 25 tries for the season, which included a 4 try haul against Souths Logan and the Northern Pride

The SP PNG Hunters had a winning season missing out on the final 5 by 1 point. The club had 14 wins, 1 draw, 2 byes and 9 losses.

The Hunters only lost 2 games at home all year – to Minor Premiers the Northern Pride and second placed Easts Tigers.

The only team the SP PNG hunters have not beaten in a regular season game is the Northern Pride (2 losses) & Easts Tigers (1 loss and 1 draw)

The Highest winning margin for the Hunters this year was 44 points against the Burleigh Bears in Round 21 at Kokopo

The most points scored in a game by the Hunters was 56 points against the Burleigh Bears in Round 21 at Kokopo

The Hunters were the 4th Highest point scoring team of the competition amassing 648 points at an average of 27 points scored per match.

The club in its first season has been nominated for a host of competition awards including:
Coach of the Year – Michael Marum
Top Try Scorer of the Year – Garry Lo
Rookie of the Year – Garry Lo
Player of the Year – Israel Eliab
People Choice Player of the Year – Willie Minoga

The club had two (2) players signed to NRL contracts in 2014 – Wellington Albert & Mark Mexico

The SP PNG Hunters travel the furtherest of any team in the competition clocking up 81,746 km per person during the season or a combined total of 1,961,904 km in total team travel this year.

The Hunters are the ONLY club whose players are full time professionals and live together in camp full-time

Roger Laka is the ONLY Hunters player to have played in every match for the club this year

The Hunters played the entire season with ONLY a 23 man roster – an incredible feat considering most clubs will use between 28 to 35 players in a season.

The Hunters are the cleanest playing team in the competition with only 2 players suspended this year Timothy Lomai (twice) & Dion Aiye (once)

The SP PNG Hunters are the ONLY team where all home and away matches during the season are televised nationally on free to air. In fact the Hunters and the NRL are the ONLY teams that have ALL home and away games televised nationally on free to air television in PNG, however the Hunters have a wider coverage through EMTV, Hitron and Channel 8 so we are unique in the world of rugby league.

This is one week after The digicel cup and and season ending for our Png Hunters team.

Right Now our chances of being competitive in the pms 13 is still good.
name a selected side and put them to camp so they still have the fitness level we have seen during the season 2014 comes october.
If we don't have a squad by next week, will see our boys struggling and not competitive comes October.
we Have a Point to Prove, Standed of Rugby League level In PNG has Rise.We have Players recruited to hunters, players recruited overseas and also we have our Digicel cup Teams Stepping Up..See the Tigers loosing only a game,Hela Wigman winning the Grandfinal,who thought this Team would be up there.
These shows our standard is high.