Simbiken primed to perform for PNG in push for Pacific Cup

Kumuls second rower Jeremiah Simbiken is hoping to cap a season to remember by crossing off one more historic goal and help PNG push into the Pacific Cup division of the Pacific Championships.

After making his Kumuls Test debut in 2022, Simbiken has steadily been working at his game and enjoyed a breakout 2024 season, winning not only the Hostplus Cup title with Norths Devils, but also claiming NRL State Championship honours with a victory on NRL grand final day, the Queensland club to do so since 2016.

“It's been a good season for me,” Simbiken said. “It's good to be a part of it; grand finals, they don't really come around that often, so I'm pretty fortunate to be in two in the past three years (for Redcliffe Dolphins in 2022 and Norths Devils in 2024), so pretty grateful for that.

“Winning one, that's something that you can put in the books and then going down for NRL State Championships – it's mostly been just New South Wales winning it – (and we were the) first team in nine years to win that and bring it back up home, it's pretty good for Queensland footy and showing that it is still strong up here.”

Now, Simbiken is soaking up being part of the home side for the next leg of the Pacific Championships, with the Kumuls hosting Cook Islands at Port Moresby’s Santos National Stadium.

If they can post their second win after defeating the Fiji Bati in the opening week of the competition, it will give the team a chance to push in Pacific Cup contention next year.

Coach Jason Demetriou has spoken openly about his goal to help lift the Kumuls in the rankings from seventh in the world and to play more top-ranked teams, with Simbiken saying his coach’s enthusiasm was evident from the first day of camp.

“It'll be a pretty good experience playing at home; we played against Fiji over there and we are playing here now, it'll be good to entertain the crowd," Simbiken said. 

“We know how crazy they are for it; if you score a try and any big hits, that's what they're after, anything that entertains them really.

“Hopefully we get away with the win and go down there to Sydney and either take on Tonga or New Zealand.

“It will definitely be a big opportunity for us, we've talked about it in camp, we're just trying to build for the next World Cup.

“Any chance we can get facing tier one nations just helps us improve our own footy as well.

“It's still taking those learning steps and keep climbing up that ladder to go up into fourth spot.

“He [Demetriou] has talked about it, and we're all buying into it.

“It's good to see that the boys are buying into what he's saying and what he's trying to get out of us.

“He believes in us boys that we can get the job done. He is pushing us, he wants us to do our best cos he knows that there's the best in us.

“He'll get it from us this weekend and if we win, he will get it from us the next couple of games as well that we play.”

Currently off-contract with the Dolphins, like many of his Kumuls team-mates, Simbiken knows a good overall performance could help him continue his strong form and reach his goal of playing NRL.

“I'm pretty happy with my season this year personally, having to come through last year, joining pre-season a bit later (because of the international season), didn't really get the full experience of it; but starting pre-season with the Dolphins from the start, it was a good experience from there and getting it through, I built that mental fitness for me.

“That helped me personally with my own self when I was playing footy … and I am pretty happy how far it's taken me.

“It was good doing it and that was good to at least give me a vision of what it's like doing an NRL pre-season.

“I'm not sure what I'm doing next year yet still, so hopefully I get something around here and still keep on the grind and keep going.

“At the moment, I am not really worried about that, I just worry about what I can do for my country at the moment; play footy for them and entertain them, because we know how big they are for footy.

“It would be good if I do get something out of this, but I will just take it all one by one, game by game.”