Michael Chammas on PNG's Tax-Free Recruitment, Luai Signing & $600M Question | Kenty Prime Time
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
G'day and welcome to Kenty Primetime. We're here today with a very special guest, obviously Paul Kent, but also Michael Chammas from the Papua New Guinea Chiefs. Chammas, welcome. Woz, thanks for having me, mate. Appreciate it, Kenty. Kenty's excited to bring you in today. He's been looking forward to it all week. Oh, I think, you know, obviously you've got no team in the competition yet. You've dominated the discussion all year, so that's a... I just want to try and start to get to the bottom of a few things, obviously, that we've all been talking about all year. A lot of, I don't know if it's misinformation, but there's a lot of confused information out there, isn't there, about your joint at the moment?
A lot of discussions about things that have to be corrected or amended and, no, that didn't actually happen or that wasn't said or, no, we're not looking at that guy or…
Yeah, well, I think it's unknown territory for everyone. It feels like it's a shiny new toy and everyone's like, how's this going to work? And I get that.
Why was Papua New Guinea granted an NRL team and what are the geopolitical reasons?
I had the same questions when I started, right? It's just there's so many things that you just don't foresee. And even for us, as we run the club, there's going to be things that pop up. It's like, okay, we didn't think of that. But that's part of the excitement of what we're doing. It is unknown and there is a – a definite feel from everyone around there is at the start it was like yeah well is why is this team here is it political and then it's became as you know every club took the money and now it's become the narrative shifted again which is fine like i've been in the media long enough to understand if they're talking about you it's a good thing so let's can we start off with that let's just start off we'll do a little bit of a chronology here why did the new south wales government think it was so important to have a team up in papua new guinea
So the Australian government, as I said, I don't want to talk out of school because the deal was done between the Australian government, the NRL and the PNG government well before I was even considered to do this job. I was still at journo writing about it. But obviously the geopolitical reasons there behind it. But for me, I'm never going to get into a geopolitical discussion on anything. But the one thing I keep saying is that You tell me that Papua New Guineans don't deserve a rugby league team. No one will be able to tell you that because you go there and you see just how much rugby league means to them. I'll tell you it means more to them than it does to people in Australia. And that might sound stupid, but that is their life.
Like for a lot of people, they don't have much. And everything revolves around rugby league. So the foundations of what the team was built on, I'm sure it's been discussed around those geopolitical reasons, but Papua New Guinea deserve a rugby league team. And it's our job to make sure that that rugby league team is successful and becomes a powerhouse. So, yeah, it's important to the game. It's important to the Australian government. It's important to the PNG government as well. And I keep saying that I think that a – A rising tide lifts all boats and I think that while there are a lot of clubs maybe at the moment feel the immediate feeling is we feel threatened and it changes the norm. Long term, I don't think anyone can doubt this is good for rugby league to have 10, 15 million people adoring a rugby league team.
So when you first came in though, the other clubs had to agree to it. And the NRL did what the NRL do now is basically paid for it. Just bribed everybody by giving them an increased grant. The clubs were all happy to accept that. But then they went back for more, didn't they?
I'm not sure the ins and outs of what... I think they were doing negotiations of what would be the right amount. Now, I don't know what that amount started at and ended at. But from what I understand... All clubs were happy to take that $4 million. Yeah.
And they all got their 30 pieces of silver until you go and sign Jerome Luai and then you're looking at Joey Manu and Munster's on the table now and all the blue ribbon players.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–1:01
2
Why was Papua New Guinea granted an NRL team and what are the geopolitical reasons?
1:01–17:56
3
How does the PNG Chiefs' tax-free recruitment actually work and is it an unfair advantage?
17:56–39:47
4
What is the $600M Pacific investment funding and how much reaches the Chiefs?
39:47–45:33
5
What infrastructure and facilities are being built in Port Moresby for the Chiefs?
45:33–52:02
6
How do PNG pathways and academies aim to develop local players for the NRL?
52:02–1:20:48
7
How will the club manage welfare, family expectations and living arrangements for players?
1:20:48–1:26:47
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Kenty - Paul Kent NRL Podcast
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