PNG NRL team to be called Chiefs, will officially enter in 2028

Papua New Guinea’s first-ever NRL team now has a name, the Chiefs, and an official entry date into rugby league’s top-flight domestic competition: The league’s latest expansion side will contest its first campaign in 2028.

Both were announced before PNG hosted the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII in a near-annual showdown in Port Moresby, a contest that saw Australia score seven tries to two on their way to a 28-10 victory.

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PNG’s Prime Minister James Marape explained: “Our forefathers and mothers were chiefs who kept order, peace, and balance among our tribes. As we play on the world stage, the PNG Chiefs will carry that same spirit — the strength of unity in diversity.”

The other name on the table had been the Pythons, but it was ruled that Chiefs was “more appropriate.”

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“We are a sovereign nation of many tribes [with] over 850 languages and 1,000 tribes. Before there was a Prime Minister, and a King or Queen in England, the sovereign head within the tribe was the Chief,” the Hon. Marape said on Sunday. “In our country, about 30 percent are matrilineal, so it fits in well when girls run on as Chiefs; there is a traditional context in our history.

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“The Chiefs name just blends in well with the authenticity of where we came from as a nation of so many tribes, united into one nation in 1975 and then gifted by Australia. It has a strong meaning to our authentic identity.”

The Chiefs now have two years to build an NRL playing roster for ’28.

In that, two PNG-developed pathway players can be included outside the salary cap.