Coach Godfrey Luke Impressed With Fly River Warriors

Development coach, Godfrey Luke, has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the recent Exhibition fixture hosted by the Western Rugby League on Saturday, 14 March 2026, at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby.

Western Province brought the Fly River Warriors to the nation's capital, comprising teams Red and Yellow, that competed against the Port Moresby Vipers and Central Dabaris in the exhibition trials. 

Although the two teams didn’t win any games against the Dabaris and Vipers, the Warriors learned new skills by competing against well-established players participating in the Digicel-ExxonMobil Cup (DEM Cup). 

Coach Luke said most of the players are from the villages, with Western Province Governor, Honorable Taboi Awi Yoto, and his administration initiating this concept to expose raw talent by playing against teams in the city.

“They are a bunch of raw talents from the village. I’m a development coach, so I’m more into developing players,” Luke stressed. 

“To get the boys coming up here and putting on a performance like this is impressive. I believe there is potential in the province. It’s about us mentoring the players and unleashing their potential.”

Ricky Sibiya was the last player to come out of Western Province, and Luke believes there are plenty of Ricky Sibiyas out there in the province, saying that such trials would expose more talents like the former Kumul. 

“It’s been a while since a proud son of Western has represented the PNG Kumuls. I think Ricky Sibiya was the last Kumul, and we believe there are many Ricky Sibiyas in the province,” he said. 

“We want to expose the players out here and develop the game further. Hopefully, we will put a franchise team for the province to compete in the DEM Cup in the near future.”

Mr. Luke acknowledged the support of Governor Awi Yoto and the Provincial Government, Ok Tedi, MRDC, Sustainable Development Program, LBL, Dokona Papua Group, and Millennium Engineering for making this trip possible. 

Coach Luke explained that with the strong backing of Governor Awi Yoto and the Provincial Government, including sponsors, they are slowly building the foundation and plan to field a Western Province team to vie in PNG’s semi-professional competition by 2027. 

Western Province recently established the Fly River Cup to select the best players from this competition to make the provincial team and compete against other clubs across the country in the DEM Cup if their bid is accepted.