Former Papua New Guinea Hunters raging bull McKenzie Yei is already in camp with the Central Queensland Capras for the 2021 Intrust Super Cup competition.
The 24 year old Western Highlander who hails from Kelua in Hagen Central electorate has passionately embraced the challenges and opportunity rugby league has brought to him since he started his career in 2016.
Yei like any rugby player has his goals set high to make it to the PNG Kumuls. Apart from playing for his country he aims to crack into Australia National Rugby League competition.
Despite missing out in 2019 for the Kumuls test match, he plans to work extra hard during the season so that he can be considered in the national team this year.
Weighing a whopping 115kilos and standing at a height of 182cm, this humble village boy from Mt Hagen is set to make some big impacts for his team, the Central Queensland Capras when the ISC commences in April this year.
The young Kumuls hopeful said that he will be using his time down in Australia to learn and grow in the sport as much as he can and also use the time to pick up necessary skills outside of rugby so that he can prepare himself for life in the workforce when his rugby career draws to an end one day.
“Being here in Australia gives me so many opportunities to better myself as a person. Apart from training hard and working hard on my rugby goals every day, there are other opportunities provided by the club like short term job placements to further enhance our professional knowledge and skills.”
“For someone like me who never went further than Year 12, this is a blessing because I am able to learn a few life skills here which I will take with me when I move on in life. The sacrifices I made in order to pursue a career in sports, especially rugby, are finally starting to pay off slowly but surely,” he said.
