With all due respect, Wales and France are not third world countries. I can't imagine any non-local players would want to move to PNG or really play there on a regular basis.

I see your point, but I think it's a bit of a cop out, and surely the idea of putting a team there is that it would be players from PNG.

Well what would be the point then, it would just be like a national team playing in a club competition which is something we definitely should avoid. PNG has a pretty successful domestic league and hosts occasional test matches, it's probably not enough but the country is not capable of supporting anything more at this stage.

Which is why they should get serious now and start building for the future.

I disagree that we should avoid the national side playing domestic footy as that is where it would have to start anyway, look what it has done for French RL anway. I am sure in time players from other nations would go to play there.

Odem, I guess what Australia did for the Kiwis doesn't count?

Maybe if you consider a few points first.
PNG is third world
It survives on some Mining royalties and overseas aid mainly from Australia.
The Hotels in PNG are like military compounds.
Many of the Anglo locals carry guns for self defence.
If you should run over a local you are advised to keep driving and report it to the nearest police station, why? because you will be killed if you get out of your Car.
There is no money to support a team and Moresby to Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne is not like Wigan to Leeds or Hull to London.
Last but not least there is no commercial viability to sell foxsports to the locals as they are poor and don't have a TV.

The only way you could do this would be to have a PNG national side playing all its home matches in Sydney. But I'm not sure what the point of that would be, especially as it'd be a matter of minutes before they started buying in local Aussies to play for them.

It's astonishing that PNG has any form of organised sport, and it's great that it's RL, but it's the equivalent of saying that if RL takes off in Lebanon, then we should stick a Beirut team in the SL.

Oh God, don't give anyone any ideas.

I would think there would be a lot more chance of a professional side in Beirut than Port Moresby to be honest.

Thr NRL/RLIF would be foolish not to utilise this opportunity to advance the game in PNG in some way. Whilst a NRL team is a long long way off, a new stadium for regular internationals, PNG team back in teh Q'land cup and some lobbying with teh Aus givt to relax working visas for young players to get more chances in the Australian leagues are all real possibilities. An improved PNG alongside an improved France will lead to a 5 nations that would be a big positive for RL. www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/k ... 5805507098 The problem with Australian RL is they see it as all or nothing rather than building from the grass roots up. Sound familiar?

Thr NRL/RLIF would be foolish not to utilise this opportunity to advance the game in PNG in some way. Whilst a NRL team is a long long way off, a new stadium for regular internationals, PNG team back in teh Q'land cup and some lobbying with teh Aus givt to relax working visas for young players to get more chances in the Australian leagues are all real possibilities. An improved PNG alongside an improved France will lead to a 5 nations that would be a big positive for RL. www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/k ... 5805507098 The problem with Australian RL is they see it as all or nothing rather than building from the grass roots up. Sound familiar?

ive always supported a PNG NRL team.

the NRL has a lot of expansion options and needs to take all of them.

the options include :

central coast, wellington, PNG, perth and at least 2 more queensland clubs

when the nrl delivers on all these clubs well be massive

we spent the past 13 years recovering from the SL war and slowly getting back to shape. when we are in a position of outright expansion like we were in 1995 well be unbeatable.

the success of the gold coast titans shows expansion is very important to our future

each expansion clubs brings different benefits to the game. some increase TV revenues more than others.

but the chance to bring in 6 million more fans to the NRL is something we cant ignore

first step is a Queensland cup team for a few years then onto the NRL.

i posted this on the nrl section previously : www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5805507098 with government backing behind them it can only strengthen their bid

i posted this on the nrl section previously : www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5805507098 with government backing behind them it can only strengthen their bid

www.pngnrlbid.com/

www.pngnrlbid.com/

In PNG there's also 150,000 people playing RL,surely the NRL must look at this and let them have a team!

I mean where in the world besides PNG is RL a nations number 1 sport!

Why on earth would you Poms want PNG to become a stronger side?

They came within a whisker of beating you in Townsville (and to be honest they probably should have won)

Do you seriously want to slip even further down the RLIF rankings?

I care more about world RL than my own national side.