It seems Papua New Guineans will have to wait just a little bit more to hear the official name of their PNG NRL team as the PNG NRL Board deliberates on the right time to announce it to the people.

Upon his arrival back in country from his recent work trip to Australia, Prime Minister (PM) James Marape confirmed that a short list of chosen names, has been submitted already to the Australian NRL to go through the process of cross- checking to see if the name is copyrighted elsewhere.

Once that process is complete, the PNG NRL Board will then have the last say in revealing the official PNG NRL Franchise name to the country.

Prime Minister Marape said this is expected to take place this Saturday and should the PNG NRL Board agree, the name will the announced-on

Sunday 12th October, on the day of the Prime Ministers XIII clash between PNG and Australia at the Santos National Football Stadium (NFS), Port Moresby. “I can’t preempt the board’s process,” said PM Marape.

“The board is completely independent from myself and so it is subject to the process that is running.”

He said once the PNG NRL Board does announce the team's name, this will then allow for the other processes to commence like the logo design, uniform colours and the design.

“As soon as name is given, the construct from everything else will flow on from there on. So, we should get the name out of the way at the earliest if everything goes to plan.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Marape said the survey poll for the name for the PNG NRL franchise was the highest ever public engagement recorded.