That year also saw the expulsion of foreign mercenaries by the PNG defence force, the end of the Bougainville war, political instability in government, and for rugby league fans, the founding of ...

Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News. This masthead can reveal that club bosses were updated on expansion at a meeting on Thursday morning only ...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape told NRL bosses Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo after the announcement that a PNG team would join the NRL: “You will not be disappointed”.

It comes as ARL boss Peter V'landys is hoping to reveal in the coming weeks that a side based in Perth, the Western Bears, is to be the 19th team to join the NRL, after the PNG franchise.

The NRL’s expansion into PNG almost collapsed the night before the historic announcement, before the clubs signed off on a monster payment. This is the dramatic story of how the deal was sealed.

Mal Meninga has coached for and against PNG and has an idea what the NRL’s newest team will look like in 2028 and whether he’ll be the coach. The PNG side was confirmed on Thursday morning but ...

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his PNG counterpart James Marape were front and centre alongside ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys to unveil the deal to establish the new team ...

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 ...

“I am delighted to announce the Australian government is supporting a PNG team to join the National Rugby League competition. I know it will have millions of proud fans barracking for it from Day 1.

The insights are timely given the NRL just granted PNG a licence to enter the competition in 2028, while a Perth franchise could soon be given the nod to come in a year earlier. PNG hopes the lure ...

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Analysis - There has been plenty of smoke around Papua New Guinea's entry to the NRL, but that didn't make it any less striking as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, PNG Prime Minister James Marape and ...