Inside PNG Chiefs
Building for 2028
A nation's team, assembling early.
PNG enter in 2028 as the competition's first national team, funded like foreign policy: Australia's ten-year Pacific partnership is capped at $600 million, the PNG Government has added 100 million kina a year for five years, and neither has published what the club itself gets. The recruitment has not waited for any of that to be sorted. Seven Top 30 signings are already in, Jarome Luai as captain on a deal PerthNow reported as tax-free, with Brian To'o, Zac Lomax, Alex Johnston and Joseph Manu behind him, and Cameron Munster and Hudson Young being courted in public. Willie Peters arrives from Hull KR to coach. The club around the squad is still being assembled, an ARLC-controlled board until handover and a chair swapped inside seven months, and the most concrete thing built so far is housing: 67 furnished family homes due in November 2027, before the football company has published so much as a budget.
- ARLC holds four of eight board seats plus a casting vote during establishment. The club is to become PNG-owned; the transition criteria are unpublished.
- No accounts exist yet. How much of either government's package reaches the club each year is unpublished.
Checked 21 August 2026 · Evidence low
At a glance
- Following: 47,706 across 2 platforms
- Who owns the club: To be PNG-owned; controlled for now by the ARLC, which holds four of eight board seats and a casting vote
- Accounts we can see: None · pre-season from November 2027, first game 2028
- Training base: Office at Santos National Football Stadium; Centre of Excellence planned, not started
- Head coach: Willie Peters, appointed 30 March 2026, joins from Hull KR later in 2026
Ownership & Financials
- The club is to be PNG-owned but initially controlled by the ARLC, which holds four of the eight board seats and a casting vote, with control passing to PNG as criteria in the long-form agreement are met.
- Australia's Pacific Rugby League Partnership with the ARLC is a ten-year commitment capped at $600 million with no funding beyond the ten years; $290 million was to go initially to the club and roughly half of the total to grassroots and community programs across PNG, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji.
- The PNG Government has backed the Chiefs with K100 million a year over five years.
Leadership
- Lorna McPherson, Chief Executive Officer
- Michael Chammas, General Manager – Football
- Catherine Harris, chair
Football Department
- Willie Peters, Head Coach
- Luke Burt, Assistant Coach and goal-kicking coach
- Anthony Seibold, Assistant Coach
Facilities
- Club office, Santos National Football Stadium, Port Moresby: The club's administration operates from an office at the national stadium that will also be its home ground (capacity about 14,800, with upgrades flagged for 2028). An office, not a training facility.
- Player and staff accommodation, Airways resort, Port Moresby: Sixty-seven fully furnished family units to be built by the Constantinou Group at the Airways site for the ARLC and the club, with access to the resort's gym, pools, medical services and the Loloata Island Resort. The CEO described breaking ground on 10 March 2026; occupancy is set for November 2027.
- PNG Chiefs Centre of Excellence, Port Moresby: A dedicated high-performance centre the CEO calls a major priority, to include gym, recovery and medical areas, analysis rooms and offices. The National reported in January 2026 that construction would start in the first half of 2026; by May the CEO described plans as underway, and no start, site confirmation, cost or funding split has been published. A June 2026 ABC report places the proposed site at Bisini and records a dispute over who would hold the land.
Pathways
- PNG's pathway runs through organisations the club does not own: the PNGRFL's domestic competitions and the PNG Hunters in the Queensland Cup, with the Kumuls and overseas clubs in between. The club's first three PNG-born signings are London Broncos players who came through the Hunters, on two-year development contracts for 2028. A women's team and girls' academies are stated intentions with no date.
- On 2 July 2026 the club announced Gairo Voro, Morea Morea and Finley Glare, London Broncos players who came through the PNG Hunters pathway, as its first PNG-born signings on two-year development contracts for 2028.
- The General Manager – Football said Chiefs-contracted players in England should play Super League in 2027 or return to the Queensland Cup with the PNG Hunters, rather than the Championship.
- The club intends to field an NRLW side and has established girls' academy teams around the country; no timetable has been published.
Sources
PNG Chiefs: squad and cap · Every club, inside · Tell us we’re wrong