Although the gulf in experience and development cannot be denied, Orchids coach Tahnee Norris thinks the PNG national women’s team must keep challenging themselves against top-tier opponents in their quest to improve.
Life doesn’t get any easier for the Orchids when they face the Kiwi Ferns in week three of the Pacific Championships after going down 84-0 to the Jillaroos, whose wingers Julia Robinson and Jakiya Whitfeld scored 11 of the side’s 17 tries.
“Australia are the No.1 world ranked side, so it was always going to be a really tough ask for us out there, but we had patches of some really good footy in there, we've just got to get better for the whole 70 minutes,” Norris said.
“Hats off to Australia, all those NRLW girls that are playing in these full-time systems and enabling them to be as good as what they are and we're a little bit behind that at the moment, we’ve just got to do more work.
“I think it is (worth playing against the top-tier nations), I honestly think it is. These girls need to know how hard it actually is and what the level and the standards are that they need to be at to actually play at this level.
“We've got three NRLW players that took the field for PNG and for them to make it at that next level, they've got to keep playing really good footy.
“So it was a tough ask but the girls kept fighting, that's what I'm impressed about.
“This is what the PNG thing is, they're tough and they'll tough it out for the whole game, so that part impresses me, we've just got to get better at the skill side of it.
“We've got some really good strong, middle forwards and we tried to help hold them out as long as we possibly could and force everything to the edge and I think they did that really well.
“There was a lot of a lot of tries on the edge and… that itself, to keep them out wide, nothing coming through for as long as what we did I thought was really good.
“But again, it's the defence on the edge that we're going to have to fix up for sure.”
What you need to know about the 2024 Women's Pacific Championships
The Orchids are grouped in the tough Pacific Cup pool with Australia and New Zealand as they have already qualified for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup and are the third-ranked team in the competition.
Despite the scoreline at Suncorp Stadium, there has been considerable progress made for female players in Papua New Guinea, including the establishment of the national Santos Cup which was played for the first time this season, one year ahead of schedule.
Orchids captain Elsie Albert has spoken about her hopes for the future of the competition in bringing through the next wave of Orchids, but a key goal is getting more players to follow her footsteps into the NRLW.
The Orchids team had just six players with one game of NRLW experience or more in the past two years, three of them playing this season (Albert with the Eels and Essay Banu and Sareka Mooka for the Cowboys).
Mooka is now off-contact, while Raiders development player Ua Ravu played two NRLW games off the bench in 2023.
The Orchids looking sharp
Orchids assistant coach and former Jillaroo Meg Ward said international games like the Pacific Championships were not only a way for players to represent the country and culture but also a chance to showcase their potential to NRLW clubs.
“I think there's a few girls that are really putting their hands up to possibly push for an NRLW contract,” Ward said.
“One that I know isn't signed at the moment, which I think is absolutely crazy is Sareka Mooka, she chased down and had a trysaver on the tryline late in the first half and I just think her heart and grit on the footy field is second to none and she's a standout.
“We had Leila (Kerowa) from the PNG comp, she got thrown in the centres at the end of the game and absolutely carved up.
“Our girls played with so much heart, I think coming off a five-day turnaround when you've just played in the PM's XIII against the very solid PM's side for Australia, to then have a 3am flight, five-day turnaround, I think what the girls were able to produce was nothing short of incredible and I'm very proud of them.”
Match: PNG Orchids v Kiwi Ferns
Week 3 -
home Team
PNG Orchids
3rd Position
away Team
Kiwi Ferns
2nd Position
Venue: Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby
