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It is official. Papua New Guinea will be the home of the code’s 18th NRL franchise! The Tip Sheet analyses the historic decision in a landmark episode that celebrates the franchise building efforts of a close friend of TCT in Joey Grima. Sixties, Forty20 and Clint lock in for the penultimate regular episode of the year with plenty happening elsewhere across the code and for the Eels.
The Eels are finally at full strength in the preseason as Zac Lomax and Isaiah Iongi return from rep duties. Sixties delivers the latest from Kellyville as the heat hit Sydney. The NRL depth has been boosted by the acquisition of Kitione Kautoga from the Bulldogs. The young Fijian backrower will join the Eels immediately on a 2-year deal. The NRLW also made some big moves headlined by the re-signing of Elsie Albert and the pickup of Blackfern outside back Martha Mataele.
The NRL news is obviously dominated by the confirmation that the code will expand to PNG in 2028. The boys look at the logistics, how it lines up for coaching prospects (conveniently for the 90* year old Wayne Bennett) and what it means for the game itself.
From there, the game’s growing asset portfolio is up next with major property acquisitions made in Port Macquarie and Brisbane. Speaking of boosting stocks and port folios, the Roosters nabbed Reece Robson on a 4-year deal. What does it mean for Brandon Smith and which clubs could be suitors for the hybrid hooker/lock?
The show closes out with a buffet of bits and pieces from Isaah Yeo winning the Golden Boot to the NRL ads for Vegas 2025 and even some baseball and track and field news!
The announcement of PNG as the 18th team while it was fairly predictable was not something I was ever in favour of.
Based on my conservative political views I have a strong conviction that Government and business should never get into bed together.
However now that it has been announced I can only say that in a decades time that I hope I can say I was wrong. On the other side of the equation, saying I told you so is not cool. As Forty says it is a decision based on geopolitical needs. What could possibly go wrong.
PS. MM was also married in January this year. Had a week off for a honeymoon then back to work for preseason training. The life of a footballer I guess.
PS2. Talking of dragging Cleary out of the Panthers. Some commentators describe him as being on a $1.3mil per season contract. Maybe he would go there. Part of the deal with PNG is that player salaries will be tax free.
It’s an abomination of a decision, and I will have no problem with saying “I told you so” when, not if, it fails. I am also a conservative, let’s hope Peter Dutton gets on the blower to PVL and tells him in no uncertain terms that under an LNP government there will be no money. Although I fear that the fact they’ve announced it means it has bipartisan support.
Brett if my memory can be relied upon and it can’t. Scott Morrison by my recollection was the first to suggest this course of action.
So I think it will be bipartisan.
Correct. This was Scomo’s baby.
The tax situation is attractive
Sixties it is going to be very attractive to quality players at the back end of their careers looking for that last big payday before retirement.
Players will go up there for 2-3 years, sure, but they’ll be mercs. They’ll take the lines and run at the first chance. No one is going up there and putting down roots. The whole foundation of the club will be of a transit lounge nature. Tell me what sort of footy club that’s going to produce ?
There’s no doubt that the PNG team will become a retirement village destination for players looking for a pay day before their actual retirement from the game. The tax credit actually gives them a 40-50% advantage on the salary cap. 15 half decent locals getting minimum wage with the balance of the squad being over paid end of career players will get them a competitive team. I think it’s the dumbest decision PVL has made but he’ll gone by the time this happens.
Look, sorry to be a negative Nancy here; but I’m not a fan of any Govt involvement in sport like this – there are more concerns than positives for me. PNG can play in the NRL now via pathways and let’s be honest- do we think China 🇨🇳 is going to back off because we have NRL playing and pumping $60 mill a season? I doubt it…they will have tentacles elsewhere.
Can I ask one question – what happens if a player has a critical on field injury? Do the locals have the medical resources? Let alone I can’t see N Cleary or the like being tempted to move from Sydney to Port Moresby.
And no one I can see is raising the issue of player talent and quality- we don’t have the quality and this is going to add more kids to inflated wages.
Country footy is again ignored – sorry but V’Landys has lost me here. Country footy needs $$$
Maybe Albo and Chris Bowen can move to PNG firstly and check if the security is ok and also the wind turbines blowing in the wind! Like the talk
I love all the talk of politics not getting involved in sport. If politics didn’t get involved in sports we wouldn’t have our stadium, we wouldn’t have our CoE, we wouldn’t have the AIS, we wouldn’t have the upcoming or previous Olympics. Sports make people feel good, this is a bit of soft diplomacy from the government and is one aspect of a much larger programme to help the people of PNG. Every country in the world engages in soft diplomacy, the NRL and Australian government are in a special position where they can provide funding to a sport that holds a special place in the hearts of close to an entire nation.
This PNG team will be quite heavily sponsored I imagine and the junior base will quickly become one of the biggest and best in the competition. Sure they may not attract external top talent but I imagine they won’t necessarily need to. Only 1 team can have nathan cleary, one team can have harry grant etc is that a reason to get rid of other teams? We already have teams that have been consistent failures in different periods. tigers, dogs, knights, panthers, even the Eels have had periods of bad performances should they have lost their licences?
Anyway, outstanding work Joey Grima. He has an even bigger task at hand now. Turning those first ever development squads into first grade players and making sure they churn out that top tier talent. I’d love to hear his thoughts on all of this on the podcast but I imagine he’ll be an even harder man to get a hold of now.
On Kitione/Gideon Kautoga. He looks to be a very good attacking player but his defensive numbers need to be improved massively before becoming a first grader. If he can fix up that aspect of his game it looks like he could be a solid first grader for us. And do we need depth on the edge over the next 2 years.
Ageeed re: the fallacy of sport not being mixed with politics. A part of sport is to distract or promulgate messages to the people. The message to be sent is something along the lines of “aus and us are a more attractive partner than China”. Considering how
Badly recent liberal governments have dealt without our pacific neighbours, it’s a long overdue message to send out. The government and nrl will dot their i’s and cross their t’s in this endeavour. As recognised on the podcast, png is home to almost 11 million people. They willl have substantial local support. It makes sense to back a country which loves nrl.
Ron, there is a fair bit of corruption in the PNG; so let’s see who and where the $$ goes…
Ham there is a difference to a government providing infrastructure to sport. Also adding financial support to sport in certain instances is good. The Olympics is a good example.
However my beef is when governments involve themselves in business ventures.
I spent many years working in the mining industry in WA. We had budgets at times that would make small states envious. The mining companies did infrastructure better than any government. They funded designed and constructed efficient operations.
My beef here is getting involved in setting up an NRL club. I feel certain that it will work at least for the first 10 years but what happens beyond.
Never be confused about the difference between funding, like a stadium in Tasmania and putting in place a professional football club in PNG.
Two entirely different areas of participation. Think of the French government at the last Olympics trying to force athletes onto a Vegan diet and cardboard beds.
Damn pesky facts. They get in the way of peoples feelings.
Ham in all respect I think building stadiums / AIS etc is vastly different to paying for an NRL team from another Country.
I respect your view and fair enough.
The money isn’t coming from the Govt Bank but tax payers again; our country colleagues get sweet little again; but mate we all have different views .
Most things Govt touches ends up with mud on it…
I don’t know the first thing about politics, but I am curious, is it a charity or franchise? Will the web address end in .org?
I know it would take a lot to convince a player to move to PNG but 100% tax exemption? I would go there for double the income. Other clubs are going to be pissed when they start losing players to a club they just can’t compete against. It sounds grossly unfair, a partial exception would have been fairer.
Great podcast, thanks Gents
Thanks fellas,
Interesting podcast. Who would have thought, geopolitics, risk management practices and Venn diagrams being discussed in a TCT program, congratulations! As someone who studied and worked in geopolitics and international relations I love it.
While I like the idea of a PNG team I’m not so sure about the federal government involvement. How long will that support last, what happens with change of governments, how does the government/nrl monitor where the money goes and a plethora of other questions spring to mind. Historically when governments choose sides in industries as winners to invest in it ends in tears. And (tongue in cheek) Albo is a Bunnies supporter which demonstrates he has no idea!
Brandon Smith – No from me. Too many issues, there’s a reason the Roosters and Storm let him go and he is returning from injury. The last hooker we got after injury didn’t work well. You chaps are right however, that at the right price someone will snap him up. Does that say something about NRL clubs? Probably, winning is everything at this elite level. Mind you, I accuse myself of hypocrisy. If the Cheese came and helped us win a premiership I would hold my nose and cheer while scoffing down a beverage.
Finally, I’m really interested to see how the NRLW team goes next season. As you said, lots of changes and, as a club, we seem to be a bit more serious about it now. Hopefully a strong 2025 is in store.
Thanks again, enjoyed.
Thanks for everyone’s input here. It was an interesting podcast to record and I personally found the takes of Forty and Clint to be fascinating. In much the same way, reading the various opinions here was enlightening. There are different perspectives to the PNG decision and I thought that everyone who took the time to reply did so intelligently, showing respect to differing views.
My only question is, why have a team in PNG if it going to be full of Aussie NRL players.