21 Mar 2014

Sport: Northern Pride to embrace packed PNG crowd

12:09 pm on 21 March 2014

The Northern Pride rugby league coach Jason Demetriou says his players are looking forward to running out in front of a packed stadium in Saturday's top of the table clash against the Papua New Guinea Hunters.

Both sides are unbeaten after three rounds of the Queensland Cup competition.

The teams met in pre-season with the Hunters beating last year's minor premiers 26-18 in Cairns.

Jason Demetriou says the cards have been dealt nicely for their first trip to Kokopo.

"We play in a second-tier competition [and] it's not often that we play in front of big crowds. In terms of atmosphere that's what you want as a player - you raise you game - it doesn't matter whether they're with you or against you, it's atmosphere that leads to better performances and our players, I'm sure, are looking forward to experiencing that."