Maroons coach grateful for PNG experience

Harvey Norman Queensland Maroons coach Tahnee Norris says she is grateful for the opportunity to support the growth of women’s rugby league in Papua New Guinea after completing an epic 10-day visit to the pacific nation. 

Norris soaked up her first experience in PNG alongside PacificAus Sports program executive Cassie Davis, who is part of the QRL team working with stakeholders across the game to grow and support rugby league in PNG.

The Australian Government-backed program allows the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) to tap into the QRL’s expertise in performance and pathways through leaders like Norris and chief executive officer Ben Ikin.

Having recently guided the Maroons to a stunning 2-1 series victory over New South Wales in the first ever women’s State of Origin series, Norris was a huge hit with PNG players, coaches and fans.

Her visit coincided with the start of the inaugural PNGRFL women’s national competition  – the Santos Cup. 

After running sessions and watching games in Port Moresby, Lae and Kokopo, Norris was impressed with the desire and determination of the players.

“They’re willing, passionate and tough … all great attributes in a rugby league player,” Norris said.

With the PNGRFL investing heavily in coach education as part of a wider goal to strengthen its pathways and development programs, Norris expects strong improvement across the Santos Cup in years to come.

“They want to learn as much as they possibly can,” the former Queensland and Australian representative player said.

Norris drew comparisons to regional Queensland, where players in rural and remote areas often spend hours on the road.

“The travel component for these women to play in PNG is next level,” Norris said. 

“They have to train during the day … they’ve got to travel many hours to get to these places to actually train, and then the other part of that is some of them are catching boats to training sessions.

“It’s crazy, and it blows your mind to see what they’re actually doing to play the game that they love playing.”

While Norris enjoyed the opportunity to pass on her knowledge to players and coaches, she drew her own learnings and inspirations from her time in PNG. 

“I was really grateful to be involved in it, because I could just see for me personally where we’ve come from in Australia,” Norris said.

“To be involved in this now at the start of their journey, I felt that was really powerful.

“I was stoked to be part of it all and then think ‘how can I help them’, because you can see the potential that they’ve actually got.

“I think that’s a really nice place to be in, to actually be involved in its early phase, and knowing that you can help them build a better female rugby league program.”

Norris was such a crowd favourite at games that even the local ground announcers struggled to contain their excitement while the recent NRL Hall of Fame inductee was on the field.

“She was blown away. You just can’t put into words just how special it was,” Davis said.

“Tahnee identified some real opportunities there for them to be able to improve their game and she’s excited by the fact that it is mirroring what we are doing in Queensland (with the BMD Premiership); and that they are not really that far behind us.

“There’s some genuine opportunities with the academy program and the NRL bid on the horizon.”

While in Kokopo, Norris and Davis were greeted by former PNG Hunters premiership-winning coach Michael Marum, now the governor of East New Britain.

Davis hopes the opportunity to bring Norris to PNG – coupled with ongoing effort to advance the country’s rugby league development and pathways through the PacificAus Sports program, will help the PNGRFL produce more quality coaches like Marum.

Davis said even one small session with Norris and local coaches on the field together made a significant impact.

“The coaches were admiring her and she was giving so much coaching support at those training sessions to the coaches; and then the players really bought into those coaching opportunities as well,” Davis said.

PNGRFL Santos Cup competition lead Urith Toa said Norris left a huge impression on the competition.

“It was such a huge boost for the competition and the women’s game to have Tahnee visit and make time to work with our participants in the three provinces,” Toa said.

“It encourages a continued buy in for both our players, coaching staff and administration, seeing the interest and support coming from experienced and established people like her.

“We are committed to building on the partnership with the QRL to elevate our women’s game, and this inaugural season of the Santos Cup is very much a benchmarking year, so we can best assess where we are and where we need to be.

“Tahnee was able to bring such a wealth of experience and knowledge from working within the domestic and national women’s competitions in Australia – levels of the game that we aspire to.”