LONDON BRONCOS coach Jason Demetriou wants centre Alex Max and the rest of the club’s plentiful Papua New Guinean contingent to get the most they can out of their stay in the capital, however long it lasts.
The Cherry Red Records Stadium team chief is also coach of the Kumuls national team and has used that connection to bring in seven players who hail from the country where Rugby League is the national sport.
Five of them, fullback Morea Morea, centre Robert Mathias, halfbacks Finley Glare and Gairo Voro and prop Epel Kapinias, were part of Demetriou’s Pacific Cup-winning squad last year. Max and ex-Castleford second rower Jeremiah Simbiken are the other two.
As well as providing former South Sydney Rabbitohs supremo Demetriou with plenty of exciting talent and options, it has made the Broncos a big name in PNG, which has a population of more than ten million.
Max scored 22 tries in 38 Queensland Cup outings for PNG Hunters in 2024 and 2025, and played for the PNG Prime Minister’s XIII against their Australian equivalents in both years.
And he has made a flying start in London, chalking up eight tries in three outings ahead of the Challenge Cup third-round clash with Bradford.
“The PNG boys have been willing to come over on one-year deals and see where that takes them,” explained Demetriou, who himself arrived from Australia to play for Lancashire Lynx for a season in 2000 and ended up staying in the UK until 2012, also having spells at Rochdale, Widnes, Wakefield and Keighley, where he started his coaching career.
“It could be they stay as we grow, it could be that they head back down under (PNG will have an NRL team the Chiefs from 2028), we will see.
“For the moment, I just want to coach them to be the best they can be, and for them to take their opportunity and thrive.”