The planning for next year has already begun after a triumphant finish to Papua New Guinea's 2020 Digicel Cup domestic rugby league competition.
The Hela Wigmen won the title for the second time after beating defending champions Lae Snax Tigers 16-14 in Sunday's grand final in Port Moresby.
Hela Wigmen celebrate winning the 2020 Digicel Cup. Photo: Facebook/PNG National Rugby League Competition
The decider was played in front of a capacity crowd of 13,000 at Sir John Guise Stadium and PNG NRL Competition Manager Stanley Hondina said the atmosphere was electric.
"It was down to the wire, a close game, got everybody on their toes and really entertaining," he said.
"Building up to this one the Hela Wigmen beat the Rabaul Gurias last week with a field goal, so that in itself put the game to some level where it really drove the interest and, after the four pointer win, it was a good final that we concluded."
He said the noise was something to behold.
"People not in the vicinity of the stadium could tell that something is happening there, where the people started to scream from the blow of the whistle all the way to full-time."
Hela Wigmen fans had plenty to cheer about. Photo: Facebook/PNG National Rugby League Competition
The Digicel Cup belatedly kicked off in July after a four month delay because of the Covid-19 pandemic, becoming the the second major rugby league competition in the world to return to action after the NRL.
Hondina said it was fantastic to see the stands packed on the weekend, after the opening four rounds were played in front of empty stadiums.
"We started off with 30 percent [crowds from week five]. Towards the middle we started going up five percent a week to 35/40 percent," he said.
"On the semi finals we went to 55 and 80 in the last semi to 100 percent this week, so it was a progressive 5/10 percent increase on a weekly basis, and the time that we opened up to the full capacity and it was sold out on the Friday before the Sunday game."
2020 runners-up Lae Snax Tigers won the Digicel Cup title in 2016, 2017 and 2019. Photo: Facebook/PNG National Rugby League Competition
Covid-19 continued to cause disruption to the sporting world but Hondina said the pandemic had led the PNG rugby league community to work closer together, be innovative and raise their standards.
"It has definitely been four hard months for me and my other team that we run the competition, with all these uncertainties at play," he confessed.
"[We've had to deal with] the new normal and the new protocols that they've put in place and making sure the game happens on the one hand but not compromising our standards and procesess.
"It was a challenge but also in the midst of the challenge it was interesting for us as it gave us the chance to stand tall and measure ourselves as to what we can really do as a sport and as an organisation of rugby league in Papua New Guinea."
PNG National Rugby League Competition Manager Stanley Hondina. Photo: Screenshot
He commended the 12 Digicel Cup teams for staying vigilant and complying with the new rules and protocols, which weren't going away any time soon.
"This is basically what we will be doing going forward 2021 season and onwards. I think something that we take on from this is it helped us to work together as a team and to go through the storm, bring confidence in ourselves and believe in helping us to get through this."
One of the downsides to the pandemic was the cancellation of the national women's competition as well as all age-grade rugby league in PNG.
The 2021 season is due to kick off in March and Stanley Hondina said they are confident a full programme of competitions will be ready to return to action.
