Re: PNG : Thu Sep 03, 2015 10:51 pm
Biff Tannen wrote:
How strong is the Queensland cup? NRL reserve teams? Genuine question i have no real idea.
It's the Australian second tier, so you'd imagine slightly stronger than our second tier. Obviously it's split between NSW and QLD Cup, so probably middle 8s would be a fair guess for the best teams there.
In terms of being a force at the 2017 World Cup, a QLD Cup team is great for PNG in terms of having a player pathway, but unless it leads to more PNG players in the NRL, I don't think it translates to World Cup success. If you look at the best teams: Aus, NZ, England but even Samoa, Fiji, pretty much their entire squad is playing NRL every week. The PNG Hunters doing well in the QLD Cup is good, but if they're aiming to beat the likes of Fiji and Samoa they need more players playing in the elite competition, not just succeeding in a second-tier league.