Fox reporting Jack Williams is being targeted by PNG for 2028.
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"One thing to consider with Stefano was that his brother was medically retired due to an injury on the field and I am pretty sure the club and his family had some disagreements over insurances or money. So we kind of pissed them off lol"
"Petrus could easily be ready for the NRL next year in 2027. Don't need to look at 2028. As you said, sometimes we won't be able to do anything to keep him because we can't give him the money or honour of representing his heritage. But if we are…"
"well he won't be fit till next year since it's acl but yes he has lots of potential but injuries are preventing him from reaching it"
"The first thing the PNG team did before anything else was pinch Joey Grima from us. He's a development pathways expert and has been with them since 2023."
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The fact that the players are getting paid tax free means ALL players for the Chiefs will get cash in hand equivalent to double their salary if they played for an Aussie team.
A player on a $400,000 contract takes home $240,000 in Australia, and $400,000 in PNG. It 100% undermines the salary cap, and it's by design. Otherwise no Australian players would go there.
I'm thinking that at least some of their squad will be locals and as such have to pay PNG tax.
Will this lead to resentment in the ranks? Rhetorical question as nobody really knows.
I believe I heard that the PNG PM wanted at least 30-40% of the squad to be PNG players. Could be wrong but that was a big thing he asked for and it makes sense.
The first thing the PNG team did before anything else was pinch Joey Grima from us. He's a development pathways expert and has been with them since 2023.
The NRL has become a product to sell to the highest bidder and to generate as much income as possible. It's no longer a sporting spectacle where the best skills are on display. Cricket has done that for years now with T20, and to be honest that has been detrimental to the pure sport, which is Test cricket. In fact the high scores we are seeing this year could be considered comparable to T20 or AFL with constant ticking over of the scoreboard.
My concern is how PVL is so attracted to US sport he will consider this idiotic conference system being floated around.
But it's funny how he is trying to get higher price yet is open to less games. The more games yearly the more money.
The one we need to keep an eye on is Chris Petrus. He's from PNG and the lure of representing his home country's first NRL side could be too good to pass up. But he's still very young and may not quite be NRL ready in 2028.
Jez Funa-Iuta, Guymer and Kautoga could be the ones that we need to build our backrow around from 2028 on.
Good news on our junior props stock though. Alongside Tuivaiti and Moretti, you have Teancum Brown, Mataele, Talagi, Pryke and Visconti. That's a really good crop of guys, lots of different player profiles and some already have NRL experience, while others are climbing the ranks pretty quickly. Good chunk of those guys are playing NSW Cup this week.
If Petrus is from PNG and opts to play for the Chiefs so he can be at home, good luck to him.
There will be ridiculous 1EE members, and by now we know who the self-appointed R&R experts are, who will reduce his potential decision down to "club failed to keep". But a player returning to where he was born or grew and may have much family is a huge factor and probably "the" factor. Hard to begrudge that. But also, not credible to reduce to "failed R&R". But those experts will claim it anyway!
Yeah well if he's as good as those in the know say he is, you get him to sign long term now. How are png going to negotiate if he's already signed lol.
If we wait, then its another r and r failure
Only issue is you might want to sign a player long term, they need to agree. Petrus could very well want to play for PNG eventually but also when it came to schoolboys he chose Australia over PNG. Not sure if that means anything.
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