Hunters back in action

PAPUA New Guinea SP Hunters will return to action on Sunday after a three-week break and they take on the Ipswich Jets in the Hostplus Cup round 16 match at the North Ipswich Reserve (3pm kick-off).
Key changes in the 17 will see Junior Rop captaining the side for the first time this season, an icing on the cake to mark his 50th game for the Hunters. Rop replaces first-choice captain and lock-forward Ila Alu who is unavailable due to injury.
Sakias Komati, the five-eighth who has been on the fringe in most part of the season due to injury and other personal reasons, will make his return on Sunday.
However, Komati has been pushed to the bench wearing No.17 by young gun Finley Glare, who starts in the halves with Jamie Mavoko.
The SP Brewery-sponsored side have a healthy record against the Jets, winning 10 of the last 16 outings. Their recent match was the round 10 clash last month which saw them won 36-18 in Port Moresby with Judah Rimbu scoring a hat-trick.
Hunters coach Paul Aiton’s strategy remains the same regardless of their good head-to-head record or where they sit on the ladder.
Aiton expects his men to be at their best if they are to succeed in this away game.
“There’s good feeling around the camp, the boys have been apart from each other in the last three weeks but they are full of energy, lots of talks, the staffs are excited and we are looking forward for this weekend,” Aiton said.
“The Jets debuted a number of their young players against us the last time we played and they’ll be prepared to face us again.
“For us, we’ve reviewed our last two games and there’s number of things we want to fix, most importantly our defence.
“There’s possibility of us making the top-8 this season but again, our focus is each game each week,” the coach said.
Meanwhile Aiton praised Rop for his 50th Hostplus Cup game.
Hunters: 1. Sanny Wabo 2. Brandon Nima 3. Clent Lama 4. Alex Max 5. Solo Wane 6. Finley Glare 7. Jamie Mavoko 8. Valentine Richard 9. Judah Rimbu 10. Anthony Worot 11. Whallan Tau-Loi 12. Benji Kot 13. Junior Rop Interchange: 14. Jordan Pat 15. Koso Bandi 16. Manisa Kai 17. Sakias Komati 18. Gairo Voro