NRL star and Papua New Guinea-born winger Xavier Coates has backed the nation's young talent to succeed and be the cornerstone of the PNG 2028 expansion team.
A member of the current Kangaroos team that won the 2024 Pacific Championships, Coates was born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea before moving to Australia with his family at a young age
Although he has since gone on to play for Australia and the QLD Maroons, he played one international Test for PNG in 2019 and is one of the best talents to come from the small nation.
While the PNG 2028 expansion team will try their hardest to sign Coates and poach him from the Melbourne Storm, the QLD Maroons winger is unlikely to move.
However, there are several young talents coming through the nation's ranks, like Xavier's younger brother, Phillip Coates, Morea Morea, Judah Rimbu and Junior Kumuls duo Sam Stephenson and Cooper Bai.
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โThere's so much talent in PNG who don't get much media attention in Australia so it's pretty cool that they are getting these opportunities," Coates said viaย NRL.com.
โI'm really proud of the nation as a whole and I'm really proud of those boys who are stepping up and performing really well for them.
โThey've got some really good homegrown talent up there and they earned my respect back in 2019, when I went into my first camp.
"I was a fresh 18-year-old and I was quite nervous, and a bit scared to be honest, but they brought me in like I was their little brother.
โI'm really appreciative of what the Papua New Guinea and the Kumuls have done for me, and I'll continue to be."
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