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| SP Hunters winger Butler Morris on the charge |
By FIDELIS SUKINA
In rugby league the SP PNG Hunters again made history with their unbeaten home record having to win all 11 of their home games at the National Football stadium for the 2016 Queensland Intrust Super Cup season.
They might have won all home games but their away record was shattering with only 4 wins away from home, the Hunters managed to finish 4th in their third season but the 5th place Falcons took them out of finals contention as payback for their loss to the Hunters the week before in the regular season.
The biggest news was Justin Olam securing a contract with NRL 2016 Minor Premiers the Melbourne Storms after an impressive rookie season with the Hunters playing in the centers and the wing.
His debut for the PNG Kumuls against Fiji Bati in the annual Pacific Test saw his performance catch the attention of Melbourne Storms coach Craig Bellamy earning him the contract for the 2017 season.
The PNG Kumuls won the pacific test match 24 – 22 after beating a strong Fiji Bati side, but the PNG Prime Ministers 13 lost to a strong Australian Prime Minsters 13 side 58 – 0 in the annual Prime Ministers 13 match.
PNGRFL chairman Sandis Taska highlighted a few achievements in the year with the domestic competition.
“We had six Provinces run Schoolboys successfully in 2016. These being East New Britain P; Morobe; Eastern Highlands Province; Jiwaka, Western Highlands Province and Enga,,”
“49 Affiliate Leagues throughout PNG who all successfully completed their seasons with Grand Finals for the 1st time in many years. Taska said
He added that the four Confederate Championships were outstanding successes for all divisions, U16, U18, U20, Senior Womens and Senior Mens.
and the The National Championships held in 2016 brought together more than 450 of the best rugby league talent throughout PNG in the U16, U18, U20, SW, SM divisions in which the national squads for each of this divisions was named.
He added that there was good domestic competition which saw a successful hosting of the Digicel Cup despite the on field violence by the Hagen Eagles during the qualifying finals.
“Digicel Cup completed another successful year with the Snax Tigers being crowned the Champions.
“Melanesian Cup, Rabaul Gurias won the Inaugural Melanesian Club Champions Cup. The Snax Tigers will look to defend it next year.
“With better development work through coaching and refereeing updates and accreditations we have seen the progressive improvement in the quality of football in all our domestic programs. In summary 2016 was a very successful year for our domestic Rugby Leauge Season,” Taska said.
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