Michael Marum

The Hunters completed week three of pre-season training up at the National Sports Institute in Goroka last week and are now on their Christmas break.

Michael Marum said he was also grateful to the Digicel Cup franchise coaches and trainers who attended the Goroka camp. He wished them well and success in the next season.

The 33-man squad will go back into camp in Port Moresby on January 3, 2017.

A 27 or 28-man squad will be finalised in the next two weeks, stated Marum.

The squad includes 25 former and current players, 25 new players plus two from the Southern Academy.

The respected coach said the pre- season program was six weeks behind schedule and he had only three weeks to put his charges through fitness tests.

“There’s only 12 weeks to go from today before the 2017 Intrust Super Cup season kicks off and we have had to put the train on squad through some very intense training.

In last night's press conference after PNG's 58-0 loss to the Australian PM's  XIII, Marum said PNG started off badly and never recovered from there.

"We allowed them to score in the first 10 minutes and we just couldn't stop them from there.

"We had a lot of chances but we didn't complete our sets and kept dropping balls and giving away penalties.

"That's something we have to learn from and move on forward," said Marum.

Marum added the effort was there on the day but it's now back to the drawing board.

Speaking at a press conference after yesterday’s 18-12 loss to the Sunshine Coast Falcons, Marum put it down to ball handling errors and failing to complete sets.

“We prepared well all week but like I said, the better team on the day won.

“In saying that, we probably had too much confidence after last weekend’s game. During the week, one or two players kept falling offline and we had to pull them back in.

“But that’s football, there’s one winner and one loser, so congratulations to the Falcons and all the best this week in Townsville,” said Marum.

Marum’s men took a 14-10 lead at the break and ran in three more tries in the second half to win the game in front of close to 15,000 people.

“We got off to a good start in the first half despite the two late tries from the Bears.

“We did a lot of defending, completed our sets and we were patient enough and the tries came in the second half,” said Marum.

“I think our forwards laid the foundation and the Boas brothers controlled the team around the park.”

With Brandy Peter replacing forward Timothy Lomai due to a knee injury, halfback Watson Boas forcing his way back into the team and Tuvi Lepan back on the bench, Marum believes some of the key players will hold on and pass their physios to play this weekend.

“We don’t want to risk our players but we hope that they fully recover before taking the field,” Marum said.

“We also have other support players with the two new players recently recruited but they are yet to reach the required level to take the field.”

SP hunters coach Michael Marum, with an unchanged starting lineup from last week’s match against Tigers, prompted a slight shuffle, omitting Timothy Lomai due to injury and promoting Brandy Peter.

With Watson Boas, Henry Wan and Tuvi Lepan added back onto the bench, the team has extended to a 20-man squad.

The final team will be announced on Thursday if there are any changes.

The current, before three will be omitted, include;

The PNG Hunters had traveled to Piggabeen to the scene of their biggest ever loss, a heavy 64-28 defeat back in 2014.

That was the only time Tweed Heads had managed to defeat the Hunters in five encounters. However, the Seagulls came incredibly close to an upset back in Round 3 at the National Football Stadium, with only a late Noel Zeming conversion making the difference.

In recent weeks, the Hunters have returned to their bad old days in the competition where they struggle to win away from home.

His appointment was officially made known in a press conference this afternoon at the Holiday Inn, Port Moresby.

Marum made his debut for the Kumuls against France in the first game of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) in Paris. He is the 197^th Kumul.

After his retirement, Marum took up a coaching role with the Agmark Gurias then on to the international stage that included playing assistant to Adrian Lam in the 2008 RLWC and recently assisted former Kumuls coach, Mal Meninga at last year’s Pacific Test.

Mal Meninga was announced as the new Australian head coach during week, despite still being contracted to PNG Rugby League until the 2017 World Cup.

PNG Rugby League CEO, Bob Cutmore, says there have been informal discussions over the past month about who could replace Meninga, if he accepted the Kangaroos job.

He says his personal preference would be to appoint a Papua New Guinean coach and surround him with experienced mentors.