Comp timing queried

By PATRICIA KEAMO
PAPUA New Guinea head coach Warren Moon says PNG Football Association needs to amend its domestic competition calendar to have the Premier Soccer League season run for 8-9 months.
He said the current 14-week long competition and two weeks for finals leaves the players with over seven months of no game time, impacting form of players in preparing and competing in the national team.
“The biggest issue at the moment is the domestic calendar, it needs to looked at as a matter of urgency between PNGFA and the member associations,” Moon told The National.
“Right now we have a 14-game long PSL season, while most MA’s competition come between five months if you’re lucky.
“That’s seven months of the year we’re not training or playing.”
Moon pointed out that most of the players who were part of the OFC Nations Cup squad had no game time leading into April and into preparation for the national team.
He said competitions should run between 8-9 months including preseasons not just for the senior teams but for the junior players as well.
“Juniors all the way down to under-9 year-olds are training three sessions a week plus a game in Australia and New Zealand and this is where need to do some programme,” Moon said “We need to do it quickly because this is a lot of loss learning education for some of the players in PNG who clearly have talent but aren’t getting the sustained training for a number of years, and are missing (out) on a lot of football.
“Coaching, education, and physical training would make them much better players than they are.
“Talent alone is one thing, but we’re missing out on a lot valuable time with our players in the country,” the coach said of the current state of the game.