Heather du Plessis-Allan: PNG in the NRL is just politics

It looks like we were never really in with a chance to get a second team alongside the warriors in the NRL, were we? 

Because it was always going to go to Papua New Guinea. 

Because it wasn’t a rugby league decision in the end, it was a political decision. 

It turns out, and they’ve been pretty explicit about it, that giving PNG the NRL team is to keep them out of military and security deals with China, and if they sign any deal like that, they lose the team. 

That's why the Australian Government is giving them $600 million to fund the team. 

This is obviously great for regional geopolitical manoeuvrings to cut China’s lunch but I very much doubt this is going to be good for the NRL. 

Do you actually think this team’s going to be any good? 

Who’s going to want to join a team based in Port Moresby, which has one of the highest crime rates in the world? 

There's probably not a lot of players, which is probably why this team is getting a tax exemption, so players get to keep more of their pay packets to make it more attractive to join the team. 

It’s also definitely why the team are building a gated compound for their players. 

So are fans ever going to travel to PNG to watch games there? 

Are they even going to bother watching this team’s games if they perform as expected? It remains to be seen, but you can probably hazard a guess. 

So sure, smart political move to cut China’s lunch, but the NRL doesn't exist to cut China’s lunch. 

It exists for the fans to enjoy. 

And you can’t say this is great for the fans. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it looks like we were never really in with

(00:01):
a chance were we to get a second team alongside
the Warriors into the NRL, because it was always going
to go to P ANDNG, wasn't it. It was always
going to go to P and G because it wasn't
actually a rugby league decision in the end, it was
a political decision we now find out. Turns out, and
they've been pretty explicit about this, they are giving P
and G the NRL team to keep P and G
out of military and security deals with China. And if

(00:23):
P and G signs any kind of deal like that
with China then they will automatically lose the team. And
that also goes some way to explaining why the Aussie
government is giving them six hundred million dollars to fund
the team. Now, obviously this is really great for regional
geopolitical maneuverings to cut China's lunch, but I'm not sure
this is going to be good for the NRL at all,
because do you actually think this team's going to be
any good? I mean, think about the logistics of this.

(00:44):
Who's going to want to join a team based in
Port Moresby. It's got one of the highest crime rates
in the world. Probably not a lot of players. Definitely
no players with families, I would say, which is probably
why this team is getting a tax exemption so the
players can keep more of their pay packets, thereby making
it more attractive for them to join the team. It's
definitely why the team is building a gated compound for
their players. So are the fans? I mean, if they've

(01:07):
got away games in PNG, the fans are ever going
to travel there to watch the games? Are the fans
even gonna bother watching the games? On tally? If this
team's games perform at the level that it is expected,
remains to be seen. Obviously you never know. Miracles can happen,
but you could probably have it a guess and how
this is going to play out. So sure, absolutely smart
political move to cut China's lunch. But the NRL does
not exist to cut China's lunch, does it. It exists

(01:29):
for the fans to enjoy a game of footy, and
I don't know that you can say that this decision
is great for the fans. For more from the mic
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