Exclusion of Prop Valentine Richard and centre/2nd row Robert Mathias has again forced PNG Hunters Coach Paul Aiton to make some crucial positional changes to this weekend’s Hunters line up before flying off to Brisbane today.
The Hunters have an ANZAC Day Round 7 clash against 3rd place Burleigh Bears, 3pm Saturday at UAA Park Gold Coast, Queensland.
This sees Tony Worot promoted from the bench to the starting 13 in the number 8 jumper while Rontinga retains his number 4 jumper in the centres. 18th man Seal Kalo now comes onto the interchange bench in 17 while Joshua Mire in the 16. Wendel Kipsy now becomes the 18th man as part of the traveling party.
There are several enticing meetings set to play out across this weekend, with the Black Hawks and Dolphins showdown wrapping up round 7 on Sunday. Saturday, the Central Queensland Capras and Sunshine Coast Falcons will meet for the first time since last year’s final series while Burleigh Bears and PNG Hunters have their annual ANZAC match in the annual Kokoda Cup challenge.
Bears Coach Luke Burt said it’s one game that they always look forward to at this time of the year against the PNG Hunters. They are expecting a physical match. Burt said PNG come with a real physical mentality so they need to be switched on defensively, and be smart with what they do with the ball.
After their loss to Dolphins last week, Hunters Coach Paul Aiton has made some key change to his line up for the Bears match adding they are expecting a tough match. Aiton said after a hard off-season, they are getting better but lack a bit of consistency. He said playing against quality sides like Burleigh is really good for the team. It just means they keep improving each week, which is the main thing. The Hunters will be expecting nothing more than that.