24 Dec 2014

Sport: PNG Hunters forge close links with NRL teams

2:51 pm on 24 December 2014

The Papua New Guinea Hunters say NRL teams have been impressed by their setup and they expect more players to join Australian clubs in the years to come.

Wartovo Puara and Thompson Teteh will join South Sydney next month on a six-week trial while Stanton Albert is joining his brother Wellington at the Penrith Panthers on a two-year deal.

Hunters CEO Brad Tassell says the response they've received from NRL clubs has been extremely positive.

"The program itself is as close to an NRL program as you can get outside of the NRL. When we sit down with most NRL coaches and clubs and we outline what we do: our program from day to day, seven days a week, and the training that we do and that we're fulltime professionals, I think they're shocked at first and then they're very impressed as well. They realise our players are NRL-ready basically and it's what we do in camp. We teach them what they need to say, how they need to think, their attitude [and] what they need to do on a day-to-day basis that gets them prepared and ready. I would expect that we'll start to see more players progress on a steady pathway over the next couple of years".