Entry in 2028. The approval of PNG team in the NRL has reaches far beyond just sport. Also explains why an Australian team(s) is on the table for the new proposed OFC professional football league.
PNG will join the NRL on the back of a $750 million cash injection from the Australian government ($600m) and the PNG government ($150m).
Behind PNG’s pending entry is also a security agreement to ensure the continuing strategic trust between the two countries that will not be made public.
While Mr Marape said China would remain a “great trading partner,” PNG had made a “deliberate choice to have Australia as a security partner”.
“In security, closer to home, we have the synergy and our shared territory needs to be protected, defended, policed … and in that context, we make this call, and the NRL commercial system fits in neatly with it,” he said.