2023 Papua New Guinea Hunters season
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Queensland Cup Rank10
2023 recordWins: 9; draws: 1; losses: 10
Points scoredFor: 464; against: 514
CEOScott Barker
| 2023 Papua New Guinea Hunters season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland Cup Rank | 10 | |||
| 2023 record | Wins: 9; draws: 1; losses: 10 | |||
| Points scored | For: 464; against: 514 | |||
| Team information | ||||
| CEO | Scott Barker | |||
| Coach | Stanley Tepend[1] | |||
| Captain |
| |||
| Stadium | PNG Football Stadium | |||
| Top scorers | ||||
| Tries | 11 (Morea Morea) | |||
| Goals | 37 (Jamie Mavoko) | |||
| Points | 86 (Jamie Mavoko) | |||
| ||||
The 2023 Hostplus Cup was the PNG Hunters' tenth season in rugby league's Queensland Cup. The Papua New Guinea Hunters is a professional rugby league club from Papua New Guinea.
The PNG Hunters' strategic partnership with Dolphins saw four Hunters players, Tai, Tanabi, Waine and Judah Rimbu, trained with the Dolphins side during NRL pre-season in January 2023. Waine then left to join the London Broncos,[2] while Tai was recalled together with Morea Morea in April to be part of the Dolphins for a month to train. Tai's trial was extended after that one month, while Morea returned to the Hunters in May.[3][4][5][6][7]
Season summary
Milestone games
| Round | Player | Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Morea Morea (#112), Siki Konden (#113), Sakias Komati (#114), Tom Moide (#115), Joshua Mire (#116), Valentine Richard (#117) | Hostplus Cup debuts |
| Round 1 | Samson Komati | scored his first try |
| Round 2 | Morea Morea | scored his first Hunters try |
| Round 3 | Sanny Wabo (#118) | Hostplus Cup debut |
| Round 5 | Junior Igila (#119), Trevor Solu (#120), Koso Badi (#121) | Hostplus Cup debuts |
| Round 8 | Tom Moide | scored his first Hostplus Cup try |
| Round 8 | Seal Kalo (Hunters #122) | Hostplus Cup debut |
| Round 10 | Sanny Wabo | scored his first Hostplus Cup try |
| Round 11 | Jamie Mavoko | scored his first Hostplus Cup try |
| Round 12 | Junior Igila | scored his first Hostplus Cup try |
| Round 13 | Joshua Lau (Hunters #123) | scored his first try on his Debut |
| Round 14 | Joshua Mire | scored his first try at Hostplus cup level |
| Round 15 | Trevor Solu | scored his first try at Hostplus cup level |
| Round 16 | Whallen Tau-Loi (PNG Hunters #124) | Hostplus Cup debut |
| Round 20 | Whallen Tau-Loi | First Hostplus Cup try |
| Round 22 | Siki Konden | First Hostplus Cup try |
2023 squad
| First team squad | Coaching staff | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Head coach Assistant coach
Updated: 03 February 2023 | |||||||||
Squad movement
Gains
| Player | Signed from | Until end of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epel Kapinias | Wynnum Manly Seagulls | 2023 | [9] |
Losses
| Player | Signed to | Until end of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keven Appo | Bradford Bulls | 2023 | [10] |
| Sylvester Namo | North Queensland Cowboys | 2023 | [11] |
| Kitron Laka | Wynnum Manly Seagulls | 2023 | |
| Kingstimer Paraia | Souths Logan Magpies | 2023 | [13] |
| Samuel Yegip | Central Queensland Capras | 2023 | [14] |
| Emmanuel Waine | London Broncos | 2023 | [15] |
| Wartovo Puara | Sepik Pride | 2023 | [16] |
| Liam Joseph | Rabaul Gurias | 2023 | [17] |
| Dilbert Isaac | Redcliffe Dolphins | 2023 | [18] |
| Gilmo Paul | Port Moresby Vipers | 2023 | [19] |
Ladder
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Burleigh Bears |
20 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 547 | 376 | 171 | 35 |
| 2 |  Souths Logan Magpies |
20 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 588 | 392 | 196 | 34 |
| 3 |  Brisbane Tigers |
20 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 573 | 432 | 141 | 33 |
| 4 |  Central Queensland Capras |
20 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 511 | 387 | 124 | 30 |
| 5 |  Redcliffe Dolphins |
20 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 564 | 443 | 121 | 29 |
| 6 |  Wynnum Manly Seagulls |
20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 610 | 498 | 112 | 28 |
| 7 |  Northern Pride RLFC |
20 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 363 | 442 | -79 | 28 |
| 8 |  Sunshine Coast Falcons |
20 | 11 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 525 | 408 | 117 | 27 |
| 9 |  Tweed Heads Seagulls |
20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 614 | 478 | 136 | 26 |
| 10 |  Papua New Guinea Hunters |
20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 464 | 514 | -50 | 23 |
| 11 |  Norths Devils |
20 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 551 | 530 | 21 | 22 |
| 12 |  Townsville Blackhawks |
20 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 480 | 455 | 25 | 21 |
| 13 |  Western Clydesdales |
20 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 452 | 684 | -232 | 10 |
| 14 |  Mackay Cutters |
20 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 332 | 606 | -274 | 10 |
| 15 |  Ipswich Jets |
20 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | 342 | 871 | -529 | 4 |
- The team highlighted in blue clinched the minor premiership.
- Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.
- The team highlighted in red clinched the wooden spoon.
Fixtures
Pre-season
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Score | Tries | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday 25 February | Trial 1 | CQ Capras | PNG Football Stadium | 12-20 | Konden, Morea, Kot | |
| Saturday 4 March | Trial 2 |  Kaiviti Silktails | Lawaqa Park, Sigatoka, Fiji | 26-12 | Rop 3, Konden, Nima | [20] |
| Legend: Win Loss Draw Bye | ||||||
Regular season
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Score | Tries | Goals | Attendance | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 12 March | Round 1 | Western Clydesdales | Clive Berghofer Stadium | 20-10 | Nima 2, Komati, Kot | Mavoko 2/4 goals | ||||
| Saturday, 18 March | Round 2 | Souths Logan Magpies | Logan Metro Sports Park | 22-22 | Komati 2, Tai, Kot, Morea | Morea 1/5 goal | ||||
| Saturday, 25 March | Round 3 | Brisbane Tigers | PNG Football Stadium | 36-38 | Morea 3, Wane, Nima, Alu, Yakopa | Morea 3/6, Komati 1/1 goals | ||||
| Saturday, 8 April | Round 4 | BYE | - | |||||||
| Saturday, 15 April | Round 5 | Northern Pride | Barlow Park | 14-34 | Tai, Komati, Nima | Solu 1/3 goal | ||||
| Saturday, 22 April | Round 6 | Burleigh Bears | Pizzey Park | 20-46 | Rop, Kapinias, Nima, Komati | Morea 1/2, Solu 1/2 goals | ||||
| Saturday, 29 April | Round 7 | Mackay Cutters | PNG Football Stadium | 18-10 | Morea, Kot, Yakopa, Tai | Mavoko 1/4 | ||||
| Saturday, 6 May | Round 8 | Ipswich Jets | PNG Football Stadium | 40-28 | Nima 2, Morea, Tenza, Moide, Komati, Rop | Mavoko 6/7 | ||||
| Friday, 12 May | Round 9 | Townsville Blackhawks | Jack Manski Oval | 4-54 | Wane | Mavoko 0/1 | ||||
| Saturday, 20 May | Round 10 | Wynnum Manly Seagulls | BMD Kougari Oval | 24-28 | Tai 2, Wabo 2, Jesse | Mavoko 2/5 | ||||
| Saturday,27 May | Round 11 | Northern Pride | PNG Football Stadium | 16-22 | Yakopa, Mavoko, Tenza | Mavoko 2/3 | ||||
| Saturday, 3 June | Round 12 | Tweed Heads Seagulls | PNG Football Stadium | 34-18 | Moide, Igila, Morea, Tai, Wane, Rop | Mavoko 5/6 | ||||
| Saturday, 10 June | Round 13 | Western Clydesdales | PNG Football Stadium | 40-4 | Moide, Nima, Lau, Kimisive, Wabo, Morea, Tai | Solu 5/6, Morea 1/1 | ||||
| Saturday, 17 June | Round 14 | Souths Logan Magpies | PNG Football Stadium | 10-40 | Kot, Mire | Solu 1/1, Mavoko 0/1 | ||||
| Sunday, 25 June | Round 15 | Sunshine Coast Falcons | Sunshine Coast Stadium | 34-10 | Solu 2, Morea, Moide, Yakopa, Wane | Mavoko 4/5, Solu 1/1 | ||||
| Saturday, 1 July | Round 16 | CQ Capras | PNG Football Stadium | 14-8 | Rimbu, Wabo, Kot | Mavoko 1/2 Solu 0/1 | ||||
| Saturday, 8 July | Round 17 | Burleigh Bears | PNG Football Stadium | 22-30 | Nima, Kot, Morea, Wane | Morea (2/4 + 1 pen.) | ||||
| Saturday, 15 July | Round 18 | BYE | ||||||||
| Sunday, 30 July | Round 19 | Brisbane Tigers | Totally Workwear Stadium | 18-32 | Tai, Wane, Kot | Mavoko 3/3 | ||||
| Saturday, 5 August | Round 20 | Redcliffe Dolphins | PNG Football Stadium | 26-22 | Wane 2, Tau-Loi, Lau, Kot | Mavoko (2/5 + 1 pen.) | ||||
| Saturday, 12 August | Round 21 | Townsville Blackhawks | PNG Football Stadium | 22-18 | Morea, Lau, Tau-Loi, Mavoko | Mavoko 3/4 | ||||
| Saturday, 19 August | Round 22 | Norths Devils | Bishop Park | 30-40 | Rop, Mavoko, Komati, Rimbu, Konden | Mavoko (4/5 + 1 pen.) | [21] | |||
| Legend: Win Loss Draw Bye | ||||||||||