Michael Chammas: Building the NRL's PNG Team, Leaving Journalism & Taking Opportunities

My kids are 8 and 10 years old, the boys, and they're signing autographs at the local school.

Serious?

Like, it's just-

No.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's, like, obviously-

Oh, wow

... you know, you laugh about it with the family, but-

Yeah, but that's cool

...

but that, it is cool.

Like, you know, th- this is how much these kids...

They wouldn't know who they are, but they hear the Chiefs and they're excited.

That is quite amazing.

Why w- why was, um, Willie Mason and, um, Jimmy Graham et cetera there?

Yeah, so they called me out on social media on their podcast saying, "Get us over there," and the Hollows Sport Boys.

And we just thought as a club, you know, obviously the media had been there before, and there'd been a lot of talk around Luai in the media.

We just thought as a club it'd be a good opportunity for them to see it with their own eyes.

And I know that it's mainstream media, but for us, like, we still have to recruit 28 more players.

A lot of those guys we can't talk to till November 1.

So I've, you know, be- with my media hat on, I thought, "Well, I know who the players listen to." The players are listening to these former players.

They're listening to these podcasts.

So if I can't talk to them directly, we can talk to them through these players, and they can share their experiences.

So that's what's, that was what drove our decision to get them over there, and they loved it.

They absolutely loved their time over there, and they've been great for us to hear all the positivity that's come out of it.

So I know there are a lot of players who are listening to them, and hopefully they might not have thought PNG is an option.