Papua New Guinea is all but set to be granted the 18th NRL licence with a team likely to be introduced to the league within the next four years.
The news has continued to cause controversy amongst the NRL community with much stronger bids from the likes of North Sydney and Perth all being considerably more preferred than the potential PNG team.
With the Federal Government set to commit $600 million over the next ten years to grow and develop the sport in PNG, the bid will be next to impossible to beat.
SEN’s Scott Sattler slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for getting involved in the bid and worried for the future of the team if he was to only serve one term.
“I don’t think we need to give (PNG) an 18th licence,” Sattler told SENQ Breakfast.
“We definitely don’t need Anthony Albanese sticking his nose in the trough.
“If he’s a one-term Prime Minister and the next Prime Minister comes in and doesn’t want to give money to a bid of that nature, what happens then?
“You’re left carrying the bag, I think it’s fraught with danger.”
Sattler admitted he still wants to see the game grow in PNG and is in favour of the NRL aiding the development programs to provide more pathways for the locals to make it to the NRL.
“We can still keep taking games to PNG, what we need to do is inject millions of dollars into their pathway projects,” Sattler added.
“To be able to get not just (male) rugby league players but (to) build the female game up there, getting athletes out of there and turning them into NRL players.
“Not just rugby league players but athletes in all sports and canvassing them, then putting them into some sort of pathway to develop them into rugby league, the AFL has been doing it for years.
“We need to be doing it as (a sport) up in PNG and just keep taking NRL games up there.”
The North Sydney Bears have launched a last-gasp attempt to match the PNG bid, looking to launch a Pacific-based team including six different nations.