By CHARLIE DYUMAVI
PAPUA New Guinea Kumuls head coach Justine Holbrook has confirmed today that Justin Olam, Rodrick Tai and McKenzie Yei will miss this Sunday’s Pacific Championship match against Fiji Bati.
Holbrook said Tai injured his knee in their last match against Cook Island Aitu while Yei have joined the Kumuls camp this week, however, he is under knee rehabilitation and may be cleared next week.
He also added that Melbourne Storm centre and PNG Star Justin Olam who missed the Pacific Test opener against Cook Island despite being named in the squad, will not be available this weekend.
“I’m disappointed, I would love Justin in the side (Kumuls).
“We certainly named him (Olam) on the 21, we knew he would not be right for the first game,” Holbrook said.
“We had a week off so that gave us two more weeks to see how his knee would recover but he is still unable to run on it.
“We wanted him to settle down completely.”
“I actually rang him the day after Cook Island game to see what happened and he said look I still haven’t got the clearance from the physio.
“He still need a couple of weeks,” Coach Holbrook said.
He added that Yei is the only one currently struggling and hopes he recover for the final match against Fiji again in the following week.
“Unfortunately, Rodrick Tai picked up a knee injury last week so he won’t be unavailable this week.”
Despite the injuries, Holbrook is having a hard time to name his starting 13 from a pool of players he has in camp – a situation he described as “good headache”.
“A great mix of players here playing for PNG with some NRL experience, Super league experience, and some guys in Queensland Cup as well.
“It is great to have the luxury of choice.
“The future here is very good and it is going to continue to accelerate fast with the development going on with the game here.”
Coach Holbrook also expressed that it will be a tough match against the Fijians but he could not allow the boys to disappoint the home crowd.
“We know we are playing at home and we have our fan base here.
“We don’t want to disappoint anybody.
