Hunters rise has Demetriou excited for Kumuls campaign

“I think the Hunters probably underachieved the last few years and [head coach] Paul Aiton's done a fantastic job with them, and they played an exciting brand of footy,” Demetriou said.

“One of the first things I noticed when I started watching them was Judah Rimbu, who stood out in every game that he played.

"If he's not their best player, he’s in their top three every week, so I could see how he's earnt that award and that sets him up for a good international period as well."

Rimbu is set to join Castleford in England, where nine members of last year's Kumuls squad play, and despite injuries to Alex Johnston, Justin Olam and Zac Laybutt, there is now more depth of PNG-eligible players in Super League and the NRL.

The Hunters reached the preliminary final before losing to eventual premiers Norths Devils, while the domestic competition is growing in strength.

“It's a great sign; the future's bright," Demetriou said. "I think with the talk of an NRL bid potentially … there's real opportunity for the Kumuls to build some momentum for the game over there in PNG.

“The Kumuls are the number one brand over there and it's a great responsibility to take into the Pac Champs."

In a change to the format for the Pacific Championships, the winner of the Bowl will play the third placed Cup team - either Australia, New Zealand or Tonga - in a promotion-relegation play-off.

“There's a real opportunity here to go up against one of those top tier nations and that's going to be a massive challenge. There’s an opportunity there for Fiji, for us and for the Cook Islands," Demetriou said.

“There's been a lot of talk about players not getting the opportunity in the NRL from PNG, but I'm a strong believer that if the Kumuls can start pushing themselves into the top tier and start beating some top tier teams, then the interest from NRL clubs will rise dramatically.

“It's up to us to earn the right for our boys to get opportunities. I'm really excited about the campaign.”

Speaking to NRL.com following his player of the year win, Rimbu wasn’t getting too far of himself and said he was still waiting to receive a call from his coach to say he would be representing his country again.

However, after a big year that began with a fulltime pre-season training opportunity with NRL side the Dolphins under a strategic partnership between the two clubs, an international call-up to take part in a revamped Pacific Championships would be a fitting season finale.

“It's surprising and exciting as well, it's really good to receive the award, it's really good that this year was one of my best years,” Rimbu said.

“When I went to the Dolphins, I learnt a lot … mostly professionalism on-and-off the field.

“That made me be a better person on-and-off the field and that's why I am so grateful that I got to spend time with the Dolphins … and then to come back to Hunters and play with the boys and the boys were really helpful.

“It's really good that I got (to do that), I'm so blessed with that.

“Definitely it's a goal that I look forward to, to represent my country. Fingers crossed, anything might happen, so I'm just keeping my eyes and my phone open, coach might ring me, fingers crossed.

“But that's a goal, I wanted to represent my country at the end of the season, so that's one of my goals that’s yet to be ticked.

“[To play in Port Moresby] all the grandstands are going to be filled up; the PNG people really love their footy so it's going to be a lot of fans there.”