Papua New Guinea head coach, Jason Demetriou, has called for a mid-season international fixture against England, with both sides having no warm-up games planned before next year’s World Cup.
The former South Sydney boss, who is now in charge of the London Broncos following the takeover by Darren Lockyer and Grant Wechsel, has urged the international governing bodies to make the game happen, it what would only be a huge positive for the sport, both on and off the field.
PNG, who were knocked out by England in the quarter-finals at the 2022 World Cup, emerged victorious in this year’s Pacific Bowl, the second tier of the Pacific Championships, and are one of the many nations in the Southern Hemisphere on the rise.
A mid-season match against England would give both sides a chance to test new combinations ahead of the tournament, with both nations expected to have just two weeks together before the campaign kicks off.
We saw with Shaun Wane’s side this year that a lack of preparation is significantly hampering when it comes to international events, with England having no warm-up game before the Ashes series, meaning they went into the opening Test cold, and were found out by a stronger Kangaroos side.
Speaking to a radio station Down Under, Demetriou commented that he would love to see the fixture take place.
He said:Â “I would love a game against England in the international break. I think the majority of our Kumuls side will be over in England, so I think that would be a great hit-out for both teams as a preparation to the World Cup.
“We’ll have to… speak to the officials in England, but I was just watching [The Ashes] on the weekend, and the lack of games, or quality games, that the English are getting, I think it would be a good sell and a good game too, so I’d love to get a mid-season game against those guys.”
Currently, Super League hosts a number of PNG internationals, including Edwin Ipape, Lachlan Lam and Rhyse Martin. Demetriou’s Broncos are also bringing in a heap of players too, having already confirmed the signings of Morea Morea and Finley Glare.
If the game doesn’t go ahead though, the Kumuls boss is still confident his side are in a strong position heading into the World Cup.
He said: “The good thing about the last two years is we’ve used 29-30 players across the two years and given some great exposure to a lot of players and competition for places will be really strong. Hopefully some continuity with the coaches and staff can help the boys when they come into camp.”
International boss wants change to Pacific Championships structure amid fears PNG “left behind”
As mentioned, PNG were the winners of the Pacific Bowl this year, which is a competition they have featured in since it’s inception in 2023. Each year, they have faced both Fiji and Cook Islands, winning comfortably the majority of the time.
Whilst there was a promotion final between them and New Zealand in 2024, this year’s event didn’t have that, despite Tonga finishing bottom in the first tier of the Championships.
Demetriou believes that if that game were to be played, it would have been another brilliant match-up, and would have given his players more experience against higher levels of opposition.
He said: “We knew going into it that we weren’t going to have the third match, but, as it played out, I think it would have been a cracking game, PNG vs Tonga.
“We’d have come in with a lot of confidence and they were probably down a little bit, so I think it would have definitely added to the weekend, that’s for sure.
“We grew as the series went on and we played the footy we were working towards the last two years, so that sets us up nicely for the World Cup.”
Asked whether the Championships needed a re-model to allow the smaller nations to play against the bigger ones, he added:Â “Yeah, I think so. Particularly, when it comes to PNG.
“There’s no doubt that the biggest growth area in our game is going to be Papua New Guinea. The wealth of talent that have come out of there over the next couple of years, this year’s Pac Champs was an example of that.
“The emergence of Morea Morea, Cooper Bai, those kinds of players. Cooper’s obviously grown up in Australia, but the other boys, Finley Glare’s another one, born and bred in Papua New Guinea, came through the Hunters system under Paul Aiton, who’s done a fantastic job.
We need to create more opportunities for these guys to play on the world stage and obviously a World Cup next year does that, but in between, you’re playing the same team year in, year out.
“I know that Fiji and the Cook Islands feel the same, it’s almost benefitting Tonga and Samoa and Australia, but it’s not really supporting the other nations that can get left behind a little bit.
“I’m sure it’s something that the game will look at over the next 12 months.
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