coach Michael Marum

Coach Michael Marum said it was made official last night when the players put pen to paper.

He added the team is ready for this season.

“Training resumed last Thursday and we are preparing for the pre-season trial match against NRL giants Brisbane Broncos.

“We want to put up a good performance against the Broncos and try out new combinations as well as give the new players some experience,” said coach Marum.

The 29-man squad (in alphabetical order) is:

1.         Baundo Aba                -           Enga Mioks

Speaking at the press conference on Sunday, Mead said there were plenty of points on offer but the team didn’t execute their set plays as well as they did in the win over Wales.

“We’ve got guys there who can break the line on their own, but we probably just got too excited and tried to score points like we did against Wales.

“We didn’t really earn the right to play out the back kind of football.”

Mead said against Wales, the Kumuls played tough, were able to hold on to the ball and complete sets.

He was listed ahead of Stanton Albert for this Sunday’s Round 17 clash against Central Queensland Capras at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby.

Hunters coach Michael Marum said vice-captain Wellington Albert, who sat out last weekend’s match due to suspension, returns to the side and joins younger brother Stanton as well as Enock Maki and David Loko on the extended bench.

He said Adex Wera has been omitted due to injury, allowing Willie Minoga back to the centres while Stargroth Amean will start on the wing.

After a short stint with the Penrith Panthers in the Holden Cup, Wellington and Stanton returned to the country to join the Hunters pre-season train on squad.

The duo were given the nod by coach Michal Marum in the final 29-man squad that was named this month.

Wellington, who will be making his debut for the Hunters, said he is looking forward to this season.

“It’s good to be back to be representing my country playing for the Hunters. I got a lot of experience over there, three years of experience.

Marum made these comments after PNG were given a taste of NRL level rugby league last weekend with a 58-0 hiding.

“Our boys play in the Intrust Super Cup, it’s a good level but again, we really need to have our boys playing at the NRL level.

“With the experience playing week in and week out, they can come down here to lead PNG.”

Marum added while there are some PNG players playing in Australia and England, those players also needed to work hard to make sure they are playing top level rugby league to match up with other countries.

NGCB PM’s XIII coach Michael Marum said: “It's a big match as we'll be up against a team that is very experienced as well as being technically good players, especially in the attacking department”.

However, the PNG team is going through the basic stuff that are the core of the game.

“We look forward to mark the Australians man to man with Justin Olam, being too good in this season to go on face to face with Australia’s Greg Inglis, and Willie Minoga, who is the only Australian-based player to make it to PNG, will face the tough Australian forwards,” coach Marum said.

Chairman of the PNG Rugby Football League, Sandis Tsaka, said Marum’s contract was due to expire at the end of this season.

“I’m happy to announce that Michael has agreed to continue his role as coach of the SP Hunters until October 31, 2018,” said Tsaka.

Marum said he was happy his future has been cleared and will now focus his energies into guiding the Hunters a step further this year in the Qld Intrust Super Cup competition.

Kumuls coach Michael Marum says there’s no guarantee that the players that challenged Fiji in the recent Pacific Test have a place in the Kumuls.

Marum said they will have to compete against everyone else including players in the Digicel Cup, Queensland Intrust Super Cup, NRL and the Super League that is played in England.

He said all these players are performing well and will be considered as selectors will have to pick the best players.

“There’s no automatic selection for players that played against Fiji.

Coach Michael Marum said from Sydney this afternoon Lomai got the nod ahead of Edward Goma, who is the 18th man.

Goma replaced Townsville Blackhawks backrower Rhyse Martin who withdrew earlier this week due to personal reasons.

“Timothy Lomai will partner Rodney Griffin in the second row in an otherwise unchanged line up announced last week,” Marum said.

He said there were concerns with Adex Wera (calf) and Ase Boas (hamstring) but the injuries are improving as the days go by.