PNG recruits ready to battle for Cobras

FOOTY is a little more full-on in Bacchus Marsh than in hometown, Kimbe, but three Papua New Guineans are thrilled to have made the move to try their luck.Zachary Rava, Ali Pinda and youngster Theo Gavuri are ready to suit-up for the Cobras in Ballarat Football League ranks.They arrive via a Bacchus Marsh Football Club sporting initiative, conjured up by officials who were impressed with the speed and enthusiasm of a visiting PNG national Aussie Rules team last year.The Cobras wanted to inject some of that excitement in their line-up. Rava hoped they could live up to expectations."We love football and will do our best to help the team get into the finals," Rava said."We're looking forward to the season starting."We love Australia and we love our football."Aussie Rules has boomed in PNG, with more than 1000 Auskickers and a major national league of six clubs.Bacchus Marsh recruited the trio, hailing from Kimbe, west of New Britain, through a billeting program established by AFL Papua New Guinea and AFL Queensland for player development.Rava, 25, and Pinda, 19, have been provided with work through club sponsor companies.Both have played football with Australian clubs in Queensland and Canberra before, and were keen to see what the game was like in Victoria.They are both tipped to add flair to the Cobras' forward line.Sixteen-year-old Gavuri has secured a football scholarship at St Patrick's College with free transport to school from Bacchus Marsh coaches.Gavuri has been tested by the Brisbane Lions as a potential draftee and will be developed in the Cobras' under-16s and St Pat's school team.The youngster has toured Australia with junior PNG football squads, but this is his first time living in Australia."I'll be going to school here and I am nervous, but it should be good," Gavuri said.All three players are staying with Cobra families in Bacchus Marsh and said Australian food was what they liked most of all.Adapting to their new club was tougher.The trio arrived last week, just in time for a triathlon training session."It was pretty hard; We've never done a triathlon before," said Pinda.