The SP PNG Hunters have made a positive start to their 2024 campaign to register two wins from their first three games.
After enjoying some success at home against Wynnum-Manly Seagulls in Round 1 and Sunshine Coast Falcons in Round 3, the Hunters will take another challenging road trip to Piggabeen Sports Complex in Brisbane to take on the Tweed Seagulls in Round 4 of the QRL Hostplus Cup. Kickoff is at 5:00pm this Saturday, 6th April. Building confidence and some consistency in the early rounds of the new season is key to overcoming the challenges of playing away.
After their disappointing trip to Rockhampton in Round 2, Hunters Head Coach Paul Aiton is looking forward to applying some of the lessons learned from that loss on Saturday against Tweed Heads Seagulls.
Playing with more direction around the ruck and more confidence on the edges, the Hunters attack has racked up 76 points in three games to rank fourth in the QRL going into Round 4.
The benefit of having experience in key playmaking positions – namely in the spine – is another reason for the Hunters positive start to the year. The likes of Ila Alu, Judah Rimbu and Sakias Komati know what is required at Hostplus Cup level and are helping guide the next generation of Hunters into grade.
It’s in defence though where Aiton and his coaching staff have clearly invested most of their time over the off-season, and those efforts are already paying dividends to begin the year.
While it’s still early days and there is plenty of room for improvement, this current Hunters squad is clearly trending in the right direction and gets a chance to improve further still when they meet the winless Tweed Seagulls on Saturday night. Tweed have endured a very tough start to the season and will be desperate to kickstart their 2024 campaign in QRL Round 5.
Across the opening month of the competition, the Seagulls were bested by two current Top Four sides (Northern Pride & Burleigh Bears) while falling just short to the Souths-Logan Magpies in Round 2.
Don’t let their ladder position fool you though – this Tweed outfit is stacked with QRL quality.
Seagulls fullback Lindon McGrady one of the best attacking players in the Hostplus Cup competition and Jacob Alick, Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui and Tom Weaver give Tweed invaluable NRL experience this weekend.
A team with this much attacking quality can be dangerous when desperate and the Hunters will need to be at their defensive best to claim the two-points on Saturday night.
The SP PNG Hunters have debuted a number of young stars already this season and rookie left-centre Clent Lama is relishing the faith shown in him by Head Coach Paul Aiton. This weekend Alex Max gets his turn to don the Hunters strip when he runs out from the bench in jumper 17. While Hunters enforcer Junior Rop and Benjamin Kot return in the first 13.