UTK

Unfortunately the terrible scheduling means next week is effectively a dead rubber in preparation for the final the week after, daresay both sides are understrength next week.

Both games against Samoa last year had 6 NRL-based players in the 17 - Young, Farnworth, Burgess, Whitehead, Radley, Thompson If you want to get real technical McMeeken and Tomkins were also in those sides and obviously based in France.

Very different spine in this Samoa side. In saying that, Samoa should never have made the semis. Woolf bottled Tonga's chances by bringing an injured Hopoate back for his first game of the tournament in the QF, and even then Samoa only scraped past them.

Samoa have frontloaded their energy heavily, NZ weathered the storm and are now dominating.

That was the best Siva Tau vs Haka i've ever seen. Samoans making a point of going straight to all of the Kiwis with Samoan heritage, massive staredown between Leniu and Asofa-Solomona. Crazy stuff.

Couple of late changes for Samoa: Brian To'o is out, replaced by Greg Marzhew Izack Tago is out, replaced by Tommy Talau Justin Matamua is out, replaced by Ronald Volkman Connelly Lemuelu is out, replaced by Royce Hunt on the bench with Heilum Luki starting on an edge.

NZ 'A' have defeated Tonga 'A' 36-26 in a tightly-contested affair promises a bright future for both nations at test level. Brilliant to see both sides creating more comprehensive development pathways toward the national side, initiatives such as this match are necessary in the pursuit of achieving sustainable long-term performances for both sides.

I'm not sure how you could work out that 8 high performance centres would cost less than 1 NRL club, unless I'm reading that wrong. If the PNG club survives 10 years we'll have well and truly extracted ROI in respect of NRL player pool development, government funding/favour and strengthening the International game. A short-term failure of 2-3 years would be the worst-case scenario.

Yeah I suppose this is one of those fortunate situations where there is no wrong choice, be nice if one could play centre but I warrant putting Dom there without extended first-grade experience in the position.

No Young is a big call. Suppose those missing the 17 will depend on the bench composition, assuming Walker plays it's probably 2 of Lees, Farrell and Mulhearn to miss out?

Hodgson was only contracted to the Knights until the end of 2023 and the Knights opted not to offer him a new contract, ended up with yet another season-ending injury that required surgery - one of those unlucky ones with a body that has let him down so far. Played pretty well in NSW Cup in the limited gametime he got across the 3 seasons he had here, would be able to pick up a NSW/QLD Cup contract somewhere if he really wanted to stay in Australia.

Don't want to jinx it but I think Cas have nailed the quota signings they have made for next season. One of Leighs big wins in getting promoted and subsequently rising up SL was getting massive output from what would've been relatively cheap overseas players - particularly Amone and Ipape. At the time I remarked both would be quality signings for the club despite their lack of first-grade experience downunder and I would absolutely consider Putt, Namo (ACL recovery pending) and El-Zakhem in the same category. Horne will also improve as gets an extended run.

Alex Young is heading across on a development contract slot for 2024 with a mutual option for a top 30 spot in 2025. Dom and Murphy are both going but neither has been officially announced yet, pretty widely acknowledged that the Roosters need to get some coin off their books next season to make them compliant before announcing the likes of Young. Angus Crichton heading to RU would've solved that problem but Rugby Australia pulled their offer.

100% correct mid-season Internationals must exist to be placed within the mind of the general RL-supporting population. We had a golden opportunity to transitioning to 3 rep rounds mid-season with Origin+ Pacific Internationals every week and V'landys and Abdo bottled it.

For some perspective on Sponsorship: Digicel are the platinum sponsors of the Kumuls and Orchids, they currently pay $1 Million AUD/year for that privilege Digicel and ExonnMobil became naming rights co-sponsors of the domestic competition, this deal is also worth $1 Million AUD/year Santos is the naming rights sponsor of the national stadium in Port Moresby - this deal is worth 375k AUD. Port Moresby Vipers had 15 Companies sponsoring their side in 2023 with their platinum sponsor NCD contributing 700k AUD (length of sponsorship unknown) Mendi Muruks platinum sponsor PRK renewed their sponsorship this season for 800k AUD (length unknown), local government also pledged 250k AUD to the side.

Don't mind an upset here, bit of a flipped script in respect of the buildup to the RLWC opener last year (though I don't expect anything in the realm of the shock we saw there). Tonga squad has been in camp for 2 weeks now whereas the Wigan and Catalans contingent would've enjoyed their respective celebrations/commiserations before joining camp early this week. In what I can only imagine might be a first, if not a significant rarity - the Tongan spine will have more International experience than their Tier 1 counterparts: Lolohea (17 Tests) and Havili (16) are certified veterans of the arena now while Koula (3) and Katoa (3) were both initiated during the WC last year. Comparatively, Welsby (6) and Clark (10) have seen the arena before but the likely halves pairing consists of a debutant in Lewis and Smith who only has a mid-season debut against an understrength France to his name. If Woolf decides to run Hopoate over Koula at fullback I would probably throw this upset out the window. I wouldn't be surprised if he Hoppa lines up on the wing in the absence of Tonga's most-capped player in Daniel Tupou and that scenario would be much more palatable. Farnworth and Wardle are big losses as an understrength Tongan set of outside backs was looking like a mismatch and a half for England but that gap closes a touch now. With all of the above considered I think the highly experienced and immensely talented Tongan forwards come out the gate firing and set a very strong platform for Tonga's halves, expect Isaiya Katoa to leverage the additional season of experience he's gained with the Dolphins and demonstrate why the hype surrounding him is warranted. I don't love backing against the toughness inherent within England's pack in front of their own fans but I think the lack of experience in the spine leaves them open to being ambushed by a Tongan side on a mission to create history in the first test. If England do cop an upset or receive a big scare in the first test I expect them to kick into gear immediately and be ready to go at Huddersfield.

Even in the Cairns-based scenario they would be playing the vast majority of home games in PNG I'd say because otherwise there's not much point. You would have to convince the likes of Olam, Ipape, Putt, Tai, Namo, etc. to give up their current gigs and go back to PNG, that in itself is far from guaranteed but plausible especially if the right money is on offer. But even if you do, you've still got less than 10 players currently signed to NRL/SL clubs, the Hunters have languished in the bottom third of QCup for several years now and as observed every year in the State Championship the QCup is a some way off NSW Cup let alone the NRL. Across 25+ rounds of an NRL season those numbers don't currently stack up, I wouldn't rule out the odd upset in front of those notorious PNG crowds but the 50+ beltings every other week would do more harm than good overall.

Kiwis 'A' Team List to face Tonga 'A' this weekend

I think it's a near guarantee that they will be based in Australia initially, unless they aren't concerned with on-field results which would be a poor approach in itself. While it may be true that players are just happy to play in the NRL regardless of being based in PNG that's not necessarily the full equation. To create a competitive side you're competing for players with 17 other NRL clubs who can offer the same amount of money AND the added benefit of not having to live in a 3rd world country with some of the highest rates of violent crime in the entire world. It becomes a difficult sell to say the least. For being based in PNG to work properly they realistically need an NRL-quality PNG player pool of something like 50 players and cap dispensation to entice domestic products to continue playing for the club. The upside is that proper development pathways in PNG could go from what is currently a player pool of 1 (Many of the SL Kumuls could do it but they haven't yet) to 50 in an relatively short period of time, still several years but the base that exists is undoubtedly a future tier 1 level.

Looks like the monstrous government backing has effectively forced the NRL's hand, word is 2025 is when they would start. They're nowhere near ready for 2025 and going early could have strong negative consequences. Devil will be in the detail, they can't be based in PNG anytime soon unless you want 80+ drubbings every week which will not be appreciated by the PNG public. IF we somehow manage to cling on and make this work it could accelerate the inevitable PNG RL behemoth significantly, however I'm a touch apprehensive at this stage.

Hasn't been mentioned since the naming of the squad but going off their team photo at some point Junior Tupou has replaced Daniel Tupou in Tonga's squad.

But is the gap big enough between those guys and the next younger option in line to justify their place in the squad. While I agree first and foremost winning the Tongan series is important there has to be a degree of future planning IMO, especially for the more fringe players in the squad. I don't necessarily see a Farrell being a first-17 player for this series (could be wrong) so would his place be better off filled by a KPP/Nicholson/Smithies type - someone who might be better placed in the future by receiving the experience of either being with the squad or notching another cap against quality opposition.

https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-league/thats-my-journey-done-at-wigan-kai-pearce-paul-hails-perfect-ending-as-rising-star-reveals-nrl-plans-and-will-pryce-friendship-4372532 After reading this interview with KPP the other day his omission feels a bit strange. Says he'd been given a "rough hint" from Wane that he's in line for a callup.

The significance of this tour possibly failing financially shouldn't be understated, this is the chance to establish feasibility for the Island nations touring England to provide consistent test matches in England even if AUS/NZ were preoccupied. The only reason this tour came into existence was because the NRL bottled their CBA negotiations and therefore wouldn't commit to the Pacific Championships, England had been in talks with Tonga since the WC and Tonga took the only option that was on the table at that time. All CBA business is sorted now through til the end of 2027, this tour is a golden opportunity for International RL to break free from some of its traditional shackles - if it is a financial success the door opens for Samoa to come across next year. If not, that likely leaves England with Europe next year but history has shown England isn't really interested in that avenue at all so we're probably back to the Combined Nations.