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The NRL unveiled its expansion plans into Papua New Guinea in late 2024, but the Pacific nation's most prominent player Justin Olam still has concerns.
Papua New Guinea's most prominent NRL player Justin Olam has doubled down on his concerns over the league's plans to create a team in the Pacific nation.
No player wants the league's audacious expansion into Port Moresby to work more than Wests Tigers centre Olam, the only man to graduate from the PNG Hunters' Queensland Cup program on to an NRL debut.
But PNG-born and raised Olam last year warned against fast-tracking a team's entry into the NRL, given the limited pathways programs currently set up within the country.
Since then, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his PNG counterpart James Marape have shaken hands to confirm a PNG team would enter the league from 2028, propped up by $600 million in Australian taxpayer funding over 10 years.
Some $250 million of that money will be used to establish rugby league pathways in the Pacific. As it stands, only the 12-team Digicel-ExxonMobil Cup provides a formal pipeline for PNG players to begin their professional careers.
Grassroots junior programs are way behind their Australian and New Zealand equivalents, with Olam still unconvinced PNG is ready for the leap into the NRL.
"I still stand by what I said. I think we as a country need to develop our local footy first," he told AAP.
"I'm not someone who has the power to make decisions. It's political decisions, the PNG Rugby League and whoever's leading the bid. They've done it and it's done now.
"The deal's done and it's going to give opportunities to young boys and girls back home."
Olam's other chief concern centres around living situations for players relocating to Port Moresby, where robbery, assault and carjacking are much more common than in Australia.
As part of the expansion plan, the PNG government will be required to build a safe housing compound for players and their families.
"If they do it properly, I don't see a reason why people wouldn't go there ... (you need), housing, schools for the kids, all those little things," Olam said.
"(But) you don't want to isolate them, you want to get them involved in the community.
"It's going to be good if they do it properly. I hope whoever's leading that project is doing it properly for the club as well, and for the game."
Contracted at the Tigers through 2026, Olam will be 34 and in the twilight of his career by the time PNG's as-yet-unnamed team plays its first premiership game.
A PNG homecoming would be a fitting final chapter in a fairytale career for Olam, who grew up in a remote village playing football with a sand-filled water bottle.
But the premiership winner is unsure his troublesome knees will hold up that long.
The persistent knee injury that curtailed Olam's training load throughout 2024 also meant he did not complete his first full pre-season session with the Tigers until Tuesday.
"I would love to play for any team that's from PNG. I'm a proud Papua New Guinean, I will always represent my country," he said.
"But in saying that, we'll see how my body goes. If my knees hold up, then I will probably play with them."
