{"id":622559,"date":"2026-04-22T01:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/622559\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:35:11","slug":"moana-pasifika-tragedy-inspires-ex-wallabies-captain-to-consider-nrl-defection-with-png-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/622559\/","title":{"rendered":"Moana Pasifika \u2018tragedy\u2019 inspires ex-Wallabies captain to consider NRL defection with PNG Chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Wallabies<\/a> captain and proud Papua New Guinean Will Genia is open to working with the PNG Chiefs<\/a> \u2014 in any capacity \u2014 as he plots his next move after almost a decade in Japan.<\/p>\n

After retiring last year, Genia will also finish up as skills coach with the Kintetsu Liners at the end of the Japanese season.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old is initially returning home to Brisbane and, while he hopes to continue forging a coaching career, says he\u2019d relish helping out the NRL\u2019s new start-up venture ahead of their entry in 2028.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

A dual citizen, the 110-Test great\u2019s father Kilroy served as a PNG cabinet minister, while Genia remains an ambassador for the Kokoda Track Foundation.<\/p>\n

His 11-year-old daughter is also schooled in PNG, where Genia retains deep connections and hopes to spend much of his post-playing life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Chiefs needed me for anything, for sure I\u2019d love to get involved,\u201d Genia told AAP from Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to be in like a mentoring space or a talent-scout or talent-ID role, or just be a part of what they\u2019re trying to build.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the challenging thing for them will be establishing pathways and infrastructure, a professional competition. They\u2019ll need as many people as they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if there was an opportunity, that\u2019d be great because there\u2019s a hell of a lot that I could offer as a player in professional environments, high-performance environments and things of that nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019d be an opportunity for me to get back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genia pointed to the plight of Moana Pasifika, who are being cut from Super Rugby Pacific after just five seasons in the competition, as a challenge the Chiefs might also encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a tragedy. I do feel for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously similar to the experience a lot of guys at the Melbourne Rebels had, when they were cut, and what it does to the talent pathway and the Pacific opportunities, not to have a pathway.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s quite disheartening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MoanaMoana Pasifika are being cut from Super Rugby after five seasons. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

Genia is on the lookout for a new gig after helping his old Wallabies and Queensland Reds teammate Quade Cooper pilot Kintetsu to the top of Japan\u2019s division two.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed the opportunity to get into coaching. I\u2019ve learned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust learning about the game from a different perspective. When we played, I could just do things without having to know a lot about the particular details or understand the roles of different people.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the best part about it, the guys here just like how the game\u2019s being played and looking at ways you can innovate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to stay in coaching if I can. I\u2019d love to stay in it and learn as much as I can to build on a lot of the experience that I\u2019ve had and the knowledge that I already have, to see if I can help grow the game and be a part of an organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Wallabies captain and proud Papua New Guinean Will Genia is open to working with the PNG Chiefs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,1625,158,278806,760,2633,3863,588,85,2500],"class_list":{"0":"post-622559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-lifestyle","11":"tag-nrl","12":"tag-papua-new-guinea-chiefs","13":"tag-rugby","14":"tag-rugby-union","15":"tag-sponsored-content","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-wallabies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622559","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=622559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}