We have barely calmed down since the PNG Hunters won the Intrust Super Cup on Sunday, and must have watched a replay of the last five minutes 30 or so times, maybe more. What a finish from the Hunters, and what a call from Peter Psaltis and the team, perfectly matched the awesome atmosphere of the 11,000+ at Suncorp Stadium.
But as exciting as the Intrust Super Cup Grand Final win was, and it was exciting, there’s still the matter of national supremacy to be decided as the winners of Queensland’s Intrust Super Cup meet NSW’s Intrust Super Premiership equivalent the Penrith Panthers who beat the Wyong Roos in the Grand Final.
So the PNG Hunters are not only going into battle for the country of Papua New Guinea, all of their fans hungry for more success, but are defending the honour of the Queensland teams from the Intrust Super Cup.
But can the PNG Hunters win the NRL State Championship? Of course they can. We offer up five reasons why the PNG Hunters can win the national title.
SURELY THEY CAN’T DROP ANY MORE BALL THAN SUNDAY’S INTRUST SUPER CUP GRAND FINAL
The Hunters made 19 errors for a completion rate of 59% in the Grand Final, and they also missed 45 tackles to the Falcons 15. Somehow they still won, and that’s after the Sunshine Coast looked so strong in the opening minutes and had plenty of NRL experience.
One would think that after securing the Intrust Super Cup that they won’t be as nervous for the NRL State Championship game, and surely they won’t make as many errors.
Yes the errors added to the tension of the Grand Final, making that last moment all the sweeter, but it was tough to watch throughout as you were never quite if they would hold onto the ball with every play.
A side like Penrith will make them pay if they do repeat the turnovers and missed tackles, so they will have to be at their best. They may not have the same passionate support in Sydney that they had at Suncorp Stadium, so will need to be much closer to perfect this Sunday.
We’ll back them to be better this weekend.
ASE BOAS
Ase Boas has been great for the Hunters since he has joined the team, but his 2017 has been mightily impressive, culminating in a deserved Intrust Super Cup player of the year award.
That accolade is hard to argue against too, just have a look at the impact of the Hunters captain during their 2017 Final Series.
Their first final game against the Dolphins was a tough, low scoring affair, where the Hunters repelled many Redcliffe attacks. Trailing 4-0 the Hunters needed a moment of magic, and it was provided by Ase Boas in the second half as he crashed over for the match’s only try. Of course the conversion was nailed, another of Boas’ skills is his great goal kicking. The man does it all.
His performance in the second game earned him the Duncan Hall Medal for Best on Ground in the Grand Final. Another one that is hard to argue, as he provided the kicks that led to both Hunters tries, and was one of the few Hunters not to make an error on the day. If not for his composure under pressure after a strong 2017 season, then the perfectly weighted grubber in the second last minute would never have happened and the Hunters would not be heading for Sydney.
His 2017 Grand Final performance spoke of a man at the top of his game, and he gets another chance to shine this Sunday, in front of a much bigger audience at the NRL State Championship game.
WILLIE MINOGA
We’ve said a lot about 2015 Person of the Year Willie Minoga, and his late, premiership winning try showed exactly why he’s our number one.
But putting our love for the Freight Train aside for one moment, he was once again tremendous in the Grand Final win, he has been all year, and he is the epitome of the term impact forward.
Whenever the big man gets on the field stuff happens, and his determination to do the job for his team saw him beat three Falcons to the ball in that famous last moment despite spending 55 tough minutes in the firing line with plenty of hit ups and tackles.
It was one of the rugby league’s great moments to see the big man so emotional after scoring his try.
Has he got another big Grand Final day performance in him? He sure does. And all of rugby league will be talking Minoga.
ALBERT’S PENRITH EXPERIENCE
Two of the PNG Hunters have some experience in the Penrith Panthers system – Wellington and Stanton Albert.
The recruitment of the brothers Albert was another of the great off season moves by the PNG side, in addition to the returns of Israel Eliab and Willie Minoga. They have been excellent throughout most of the 2017 season.
Wellington Albert is a man mountain at 193cm and 113kn and was the first PNG player to be signed to an NRL club directly from PNG without having played in Australia. He played NYC and NSW Cup for the Panthers from 2014 until he returned home for the 2017 season.
His brother Stanton also had a stint in the Panthers system too, and also followed his sibling back to PNG for the 2017 season.
Will their experiences be on any benefit, most likely not, but it certainly is a nice side interest for the match.
BECAUSE WE SAID SO
In our recent brag after the big Grand Final win, we claimed at the start of the year that the PNG Hunters could win the 2017 ISC Grand Final, and they did. We also claimed that the PNG Hunters could be rugby league’s feelgood story of the season. And you could argue that they already are without the NRL State Championship.
So given our bold predictions have come, we offer up one more bold prediction before the rugby league season comes to a close.
We say PNG Hunters will be the NRL State Champions. Hopefully.
