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Speaker 1: Well, it looks like we were never really in with

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Speaker 1: a chance were we to get a second team alongside

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Speaker 1: the Warriors into the NRL, because it was always going

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Speaker 1: to go to P ANDNG, wasn't it. It was always

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Speaker 1: going to go to P and G because it wasn't

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Speaker 1: actually a rugby league decision in the end, it was

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Speaker 1: a political decision we now find out. Turns out, and

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Speaker 1: they've been pretty explicit about this, they are giving P

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Speaker 1: and G the NRL team to keep P and G

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Speaker 1: out of military and security deals with China. And if

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Speaker 1: P and G signs any kind of deal like that

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Speaker 1: with China then they will automatically lose the team. And

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Speaker 1: that also goes some way to explaining why the Aussie

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Speaker 1: government is giving them six hundred million dollars to fund

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Speaker 1: the team. Now, obviously this is really great for regional

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Speaker 1: geopolitical maneuverings to cut China's lunch, but I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: this is going to be good for the NRL at all,

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Speaker 1: because do you actually think this team's going to be

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Speaker 1: any good? I mean, think about the logistics of this.

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Speaker 1: Who's going to want to join a team based in

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Speaker 1: Port Moresby. It's got one of the highest crime rates

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Speaker 1: in the world. Probably not a lot of players. Definitely

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Speaker 1: no players with families, I would say, which is probably

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Speaker 1: why this team is getting a tax exemption so the

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Speaker 1: players can keep more of their pay packets, thereby making

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Speaker 1: it more attractive for them to join the team. It's

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Speaker 1: definitely why the team is building a gated compound for

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Speaker 1: their players. So are the fans? I mean, if they've

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Speaker 1: got away games in PNG, the fans are ever going

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Speaker 1: to travel there to watch the games? Are the fans

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Speaker 1: even gonna bother watching the games? On tally? If this

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Speaker 1: team's games perform at the level that it is expected,

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Speaker 1: remains to be seen. Obviously you never know. Miracles can happen,

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Speaker 1: but you could probably have it a guess and how

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Speaker 1: this is going to play out. So sure, absolutely smart

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Speaker 1: political move to cut China's lunch. But the NRL does

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Speaker 1: not exist to cut China's lunch, does it. It exists

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Speaker 1: for the fans to enjoy a game of footy, and

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Speaker 1: I don't know that you can say that this decision

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Speaker 1: is great for the fans. For more from the mic

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Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd be from

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Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,