As chief executive of the PNG Chiefs, Lorna McPherson would love to see her side make the top eight in their foundation season.
But beyond a finals finish in their maiden campaign in 2028, she wants to see the Chiefs nurture homegrown Papua New Guinean players.
“I don't believe I would be doing a good job if I don't get those pathways right,” McPherson said.
Despite a nationwide love for the 13-a-side game, few born and bred Papua New Guineans - with Justin Olam and Marcus Bai among the notable exceptions - have made it to the NRL.
Which is why the most important person in ensuring the sustained success of the Chiefs might not be McPherson, coach Willie Peters or football manager Michael Chammas but Joey Grima.
The PNGRFL’s pathways manager and coach of the Junior Kumuls, Grima has challenges like no other talent scout as he hunts for potential NRL players in a nation where infrastructure is poor and there are more than 800 languages.
“We beat Australia’s schoolboys for the first time ever two weeks ago,” Grima said.
“But the thing is, I don't even know if I've found the best players in Papua New Guinea. I can't get to areas because in some places there’s no roads, or you have to take a six-hour boat."
Along with one of his best mates, Tarik Houchar, and Kumuls legend Stanley Gene, Grima oversees an academy that now boasts more than 1600 male and female players from under-15 to under-19 right across the country.
But if you want to be part of the academy, there are some rules - and few of them apply to your on-field ability.
“We invite mum and dad to attend an induction and tell them in Tok Pisin (pidgin) and in English that these are the program's standards,” Grima said.
“If you wear your cap backwards or turn up late without good reason, you are removed from the program. 'PNG time' isn’t a thing anymore.
“There's some education pieces: voice against violence, female health and menstruation, financial literacy, safeguarding - and it resonates with the young boys and girls because now they don't turn up late and they look after their gear.”
One of Grima’s early success stories has been five-eighth Gairo Voro, who will line up for PNG against a Samoa side led by Jarome Luai in the World Cup on Saturday.
Voro spent the last season in England’s second tier, where he was named player of the year and, along with Morea Morea and Finley Glare, has earned a development contract with the Chiefs for 2028.
Voro was only discovered by chance when Grima went to watch a junior competition in PNG’s Central Province.
“He looked like Jarome Luai when I saw him but I was so impressed by his defence,” Grima said.
“He couldn’t even speak Tok Pisin when we brought him into Junior Kumuls camp but now he’s flying.
“It’s unbelievable, it just shows how untapped this country is.”
