Womens coach adamant of team (Post Courier 17/0817)

Oil Search PNG Orchids coach Dennis Miall 

BY FIDELIS SUKINA

Oil Search PNG Orchids coach Dennis Miall says he was impressed with the level of skill and confidence of the selected players.

Miall added he was happy with the team and one of his first tasks as coach will be to get the woman into a team that can set the bench mark for woman’s rugby into the future.

“My first task would be to take the team up to a standard performance, after watching the championships in Lae the ladies have the guts and the confidence to play and everything builds around that,” Miall said

PNGRFL has clarified in a statement yesterday to Post Courier that there will be additions and subtractions to the current squad, after the curtain raiser to PM XIII.


Overseas players will also be considered before the final 24 woman team is finalized in mid October.

When asked about the training schedule Miall added that the team would be expected to assemble before their September 23 match against the Jillaroos in Port Moresby.

“Depend on what the PNGRFL approves in our training program we anticipate them to be a week or two before the Jillaroos game. We should be together before the game,” Miall said

He added that as a team their World Cup campaign would be centered on setting a bench mark for Women’s Rugby League in PNG.

“We would like to set a standard that PNGRFL can bank on and move on from that standard that we set.

“We are aiming ourselves high and going there confident,” Miall said

Miall is the Deputy Principal Academic at Lae Secondary school and has been a teacher for 20 years; he coaches the Tigers Womens team in the Lae competition and has been involved with them for two years.

He has been involved with PNGRFL since the School Boys competition in 2005 and his biggest achievement was winning Gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Scotland as coach with the U19 PNG men’s team.