PNG Chiefs do not want their London signings staying in Britain next year unless the Broncos are in Super League.
Chiefs general manager Michael Chammas jetted out of London on Sunday having met officials of the Rugby Football League, Rugby League Commercial, clubs, player agents and the newly-Australian-owned Broncos during a two week stay.
London’s leadership of Darren Locker and Grant Wechsel even hosted Chammas and Chiefs recruitment manager Liam Ayoub along with players and staff at a Richmond dinner, having earlier said they’d encourage the PNG stars to return home in 2028.
But Chammas said: “We’ve been quite honest with the London Broncos boys because we don’t believe the Championship is an ideal launching pad into an NRL career.
“So if they’re going to be in the NRL system, we’d like them playing Super League next year or coming back home to play in the Queensland Cup for the Hunters.
“We’ve been quite clear on that: we don’t think Championship is the right preparation for them to go into an NRL pre-season so let’s see how the next few months pan out.
”With the London Broncos, we’d love to see them in the Super League, we’d have no qualms about them staying here for another year.”
London Broncos players in the Chiefs sights include fullback Morea Morea, five-eighth Gairo Voro, centres Robert Mathias and Alex Max, hooker Finley Glare, prop Epel Kapinias and lock Jeremiah Simbiken.
Those players already contracted to the Broncos for next season could remain in London regardless of what competition the team is in, but Chammas wants the others either playing Super League or for the Hunters if they were to sign with the Chiefs.
Chammas has also struck down widespread speculation linking Leigh’s Edwin Ipape to the Chiefs.
“Everyone keeps asking us about Edwin Ipape - the reality is Edwin Ipape signed a six-year deal to stay at Leigh,” Chammas said. “And as far as has been reported, there is no NRL get-out for him, so we’ve got to respect his position there.
“Lachlan Lam’s contracted for another year at Leigh as well. Just like the NRL - we know the rules we’re playing by and if things pop up we’ll deal with them.
“But at the moment there are some rules around certain players that limit what we can do.”
