Papua New Guinea's prime minister has confirmed he expects his nation's entry to the NRL to get the green light on Thursday, as officials prepare to turn a pipeline dream into a bona fide rugby league club.
Speaking at an economic conference in Sydney, PNG leader James Marape launched his latest sponsorship pitch ahead of a crucial week for the nation's bid.
"On Thursday, hopefully, some of you potential sponsors of our NRL team can join me as the NRL completes its process in making a potential announcement of the team," Marape told the PNG CORE conference.
The NRL was initially expected to announce expansions clubs in both Perth and PNG by the end of this year, before talks broke down with the West Australian bid.
PNG's entry will still be set for 2028, allowing a Perth side to come in as an 18th team in 2027 if expansion to the west is brokered.
The announcement of PNG's entry will mark the culmination of two years of talks between the nations' hierarchies and the NRL, with the bid propped up by $600 million of Australian government assistance.
Thursday's confirmation will also kick off a crucial new chapter, as PNG's focus goes from the bid to reality.
Football itself will initially take a back seat, with officials indicating a decision on the inaugural coach would still be far more than a year away.
Jason Demetriou is considered an early option given he is the Kumuls' national coach, while Justin Holbrook and Adrian Lam have previously held that role.
NRL rules also mean players also can't be signed until November 2026, but there is some potential that date could be brought forward for expansion sides.
Instead though, the focus will be on logistics for those in PNG.
Former Parramatta assistant Joey Grima is heading up an academy of almost 700 young players in the country, with the Junior Kumuls drawing with an Australian schoolboys side earlier this year.
Otherwise, the majority of early appointments will be non-football staff.
A location for the high-profile club village must be determined, with that and the centre of excellence needing to be complete by late 2027.
The 15,000-seat national stadium in Port Moresby will be the club's home ground, while officials are adamant the nation's population of 12 million will make it the most supported franchise in the NRL.
Crucially, a club name, logo and colours will also be determined by locals, with the national team name of the PNG Kumls already off the table.
The PNG Hunters is one option given the franchise will also take in the Queensland Cup side, but a new name is equally likely.
"We focused very much until this point on foundations and fundamentals, rather than marketing and above the line," PNG bid boss Andrew Hill told AAP.
"There are lots of advantages because we can start from scratch, we can start embracing everyone in PNG to be part of this club.
"Once people start to see the club with a name, with merchandise, with marketing campaigns, you start to have the heartbeat of the club.
"And once they start seeing the infrastructure progress, the high-performance centre and village being built, the pathways we are developing will start to identify with the club."
