Queensland Cup

He puts his best foot forward, hoping for a call-up to the Hunters' final 30-man squad for the 2024 QRL Season.

Following the footsteps of big brother and former Hunter Warren Glare, Finley  has had a fairytale start to his young rugby league career, headlined by his debut for the PNG Junior Kumuls against the Australian School Boys in September, last year.

After making a transition from rugby union to rugby league in 2020, young Koi played at the semi-professional level with Muruks and Vipers before joining up with the Gurias in the season 2023. Koi’s move to rugby league was inspired by his childhood idols, Glen Nami and Nigel Hukula from the Lahanis.

He said he used to idolize former Goroka Lahanis legends when growing up. They inspired him to take up rugby league.

They currently have 36 players in camp vying for spots in the final PNG Hunters 30-man squad for the 2024 QRL Hostplus season.

Pressure is now mounting on the players to put their best foot forward to impress the coaching staff before the final squad list is announced this week.

Coach Paul Aiton and his staff have organized opposed sessions for the past two weeks to assess and recap on what the boys have learnt since block one started in terms of structure, game management and execution which is starting to come together.

The Western Highlander has again defied all odds to make it back into camp for block two of the reduced Hunters' likely squad for the 2024 QRL Hostplus cup season.

Born into a Seventh-Day Adventist family, Robert’s early upbringing was mostly focused on religious activities and education. He only played rugby during the Christmas holidays but never took it seriously.

Round 1 of next year’s competition kicks off on the weekend of March 9-10, with 150 regular season matches to be played over six months before the start of the finals series in September.

All 15 clubs will play 20 games across 24 rounds in the fight to qualify for the top eight and ultimately the 2024 grand final at Redcliffe’s Kayo Stadium.

Since Morea Junior is under an injury cloud and is expected to serve the first quarter of the season 2024 on the sideline, Sanny Wabo is the logical replacement being part of the Hunters team in the 2023 Hotsplus Cup Competition.

 SP PNG Hunters has rounded up its season 2023 with some impressive performances and would be looking to have a positive start to the season 2024. But the injury to Morea Morea Junior could prove critical to the team.

The heaving home crowd was treating to a stop-and-start contest to begin the match on Saturday afternoon as both sides traded blows in yardage.  
 
The Capras discipline was poor in the early stages, conceding penalties for dissent and making unforced errors to give the Hunters the advantage in the territory battle.  
 

Running out to a packed home crowed at the Santos National Football, the Hunters had everything to play for and they rose to the occasion. Despite conceding first points through experienced NRL halfback Toby Sexton, the Hunters held their nerve to quickly drag the game into a grind. 

A heaving crowd at the Santos National Football Stadium was treated to a smorgasbord of attacking football on Saturday afternoon as the Hunters and Jets traded shots in a high-scoring affair.

The points didn’t come straight away, though. Both sides were disciplined to begin the game and worked through their sets cleanly to kick to the corners. The Hunters enjoyed good service from middles Henry Wan Noki, Ila Alu and Junior Rop in the opening stages as they rolled downfield, while the Jets kicking game kept them in the yardage battle.

The Hunters were slow to start in the slippery conditions but scrambled well to defend an early Blackhawks’ linebreak through the middle of the field. They couldn’t defend the consecutive knock on, penalty and six-again infringements that came next though, with Townsville capitalising on the field position to open the scoring with a well weighted grubber into the in goal for Jaelen Feeney.