10 players recruited to Australian clubs

Following on from the success of the Vanuatu-South Sea Islander Tour throughout Queensland, 10 players have now been placed to continue to train and play with club sides in Australia.

Kunro Kalo (Townsville Brothers), Alex Marango (Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles), Robert Franklin, James Wilfred, Kalpat Steadman and Tonny Lui (Noosa Pirates), Patrick August and Jean-Pierez Kenie (Souths Mackay) and Roger Tokona and Ian Vuti (Burdekin Roosters) have all been recruited by Rugby League in Australia.

National Coach and former NRL player Dane Campbell said he was thrilled with this outcome “The whole purpose of the tour was to give the players an opportunity to train and play in an elite environment and then chart a path forward for each player and to see how they will fit into our national squad moving forward – which we definitely achieved”.

“The other focus was to potentially get one or two players placed within clubs in Australia to speed up the process of their development. To get 10 players placed is an outstanding achievement and just shows the untapped talent and potential we have in Vanuatu.”

VRL President Tom Carlo was just as positive “The VRL is only new to sport in Vanuatu but from day one we’ve vowed to make a difference and provide opportunities for talented Ni-Vanuatu to have opportunities to travel and reside overseas to chase their professional sporting dreams. We’ll give them the best possible support to make it, but regardless of the outcome you can rest assured they’ll have had opportunities to excellent cultural, educational and career development”.

Anyone interested in becoming involved in Rugby League whether as a player, coach, trainer, official, administrator as well as sponsorship opportunities should contact the VRL.