Chammas makes huge call on Chiefs opening season

The newly appointed General Manager of the Papua New Guinea Chiefs NRL side, Michael Chammas, has made an ambitious claim that the club will be in a position to play finals footy in their inaugural season. 

The side will feature in the 2028 NRL season, and will be looking to kick off their history with a bang by fielding a strong side off the jump.

An agreement with the PNG government will see players move to the Melanesian country tax-free, to incentivise players to relocate out of Australia and New Zealand.

It is an effort to attract as much talent as possible, with Chammas telling the Daily Telegraph that he wants his side ready to play and be competitive come September. 

“We want to build a team that's going to be competitive from the start,” Chammas said.

“We come in in 2028, so we've got 18 months, two years, to build a competitive roster.

“We want to have a lot of local flavour in the football team. And we want to have some big-name players as well to add to that.

“There's a lot of work to do. I think there's 750 days until our first game.

“We'll build a very competitive team from the start.

“We'll be ready to compete for the finals.”

The last team to be introduced into the NRL, the Dolphins, haven't reached the finals yet since coming into the competition in 2023. 
Off-contract at the end of the year, Toby Rudolf has put his hand up to be the first signing of the Chiefs. 

Rudolf would be an excellent maiden signing for PNG, bringing cult hero significance with plenty left to offer on the field too. 

Outside of playing talent, Chammas has the task of recruiting staff and coaches to PNG as well, and said Jason Demetriou and Adrian Lam will come into consideration. 

“There's a lot of good coaches out there. We'll work with the NRL to make sure we get the best coach,” Chammas said.

“There's a lot of guys who have got connections to the area. Jason Demetriou is currently the national coach; Adrian Lam, obviously, is very well connected to Papua New Guinea.

“There's some other coaches out there, too, who would like to coach PNG.

“Hopefully, we'll get one really soon because the excitement is building, and the people need a coach. We need to start building a football team.”

With the players set to be housed in an accommodation compound, rather than on their own, Chammas has a big task in getting the players and their families to agree to the international move.