{"id":497737,"date":"2026-02-23T00:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497737\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T00:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:05:09","slug":"png-chiefs-arrival-expected-to-boost-countries-economy-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497737\/","title":{"rendered":"PNG Chiefs arrival expected to boost countries economy – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The arrival of the Papua New Guinea<\/a> Chiefs’ NRL<\/a> side is set to do much greater things than just another expansion team.<\/p>\n

With 3000-5000 new tourists expected to visit the country every second week when NRL<\/a> sides travel to PNG, it will be a massive boost to the developing economy of the Melanesian country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As per NRL<\/a>.com, PNG Prime Minister James Marape says the Chiefs’ berth in the NRL<\/a> is more than just a playing roster and will create greater stability in the nation’s economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is a national unification strategy deployed under the flag of rugby league,” Marape said.<\/p>\n

“That means the economy will be at its high peak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We must have the ability to handle 3,000 to 5,000 additional visitors every second week beginning 2028 and onwards.”<\/p>\n

It is seen as a massive potential for new jobs and greater infrastructure for the Port Moresby economy, and the influx of regular visitors creates more business opportunities for the local Papua New Guineans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The introduction of the side is more than just an opportunity to play in the NRL<\/a>, but will be the catalyst for further investments in the benefit of society.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Things such as concerts, higher demand for hospitality jobs, security, and improved infrastructure are all earmarked as attributes that will greatly improve outside of the NRL<\/a> paddock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Chiefs have yet to make a signing, but there seems to be plenty of interest, including Cronulla Sharks<\/a> duo Cam McInnes and Toby Rudolf<\/a>, with speculation mounting that one of the two may be the first signing for the PNG side.<\/p>\n

Get set for the footy with the FREE Zero Tackle 2026 NRL Season Guide!<\/a> Packed with 130+ pages of player profiles, team previews, insights and analysis, the 2026 NRL Season Guide<\/a> is built for fans who want the full picture. Download your free Season Guide HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The arrival of the Papua New Guinea Chiefs’ NRL side is set to do much greater things than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-497737","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\/497737","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=497737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}