{"id":386429,"date":"2026-01-02T08:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386429\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T08:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:06:10","slug":"watson-png-chiefs-hype-is-real-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386429\/","title":{"rendered":"Watson: PNG Chiefs hype is real – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney Roosters<\/a> utility Connor Watson<\/a> has revealed the scale of excitement in Papua New Guinea<\/a> surrounding the NRL’s expansion, describing the incoming PNG Chiefs<\/a> as daily \u201cback page\u201d news following a recent Kokoda Trail bonding trip.<\/p>\n

Watson was among 16 Roosters players and staff who completed the gruelling 96-kilometre Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea<\/a>, a trip aimed at strengthening squad unity ahead of the 2026 NRL<\/a> season.<\/p>\n

Speaking on SEN 1170 Breakfast, Watson said rugby league dominated conversation throughout the trek, with locals eagerly awaiting the introduction of the PNG Chiefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got over there, there was a massive buzz,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day the back page was about who’s coaching PNG or what player they’re getting.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the porters we walked with were rugby league mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NRLSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 23: Connor Watson playing in the NRL match between Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters at CommBank Stadium, on August 23, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Joshua Davis\/Zero Digital Sports)<\/p>\n

While safety and recruitment concerns have featured in Australian media, Watson said those doubts were not shared by locals, highlighting the passion of Papua New Guinea’s rugby league community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d never been over there before and to see a country where rugby league is the major sport, and just their reaction to it, it’s awesome,\u201d he said.
\u201cIt’s obviously going to be a challenge being a different country, but the passion of the Papua New Guineans – if you’re playing for them, you wouldn’t want to let them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson added that the Kokoda experience had already strengthened the Roosters’ group, with extended one-on-one conversations helping build deeper connections among players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney Roosters utility Connor Watson has revealed the scale of excitement in Papua New Guinea surrounding the NRL’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-386429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}