Whitehaven sign PNG pair

Whitehaven have announced the signing of Papua New Guinea international duo, Glen Nami and Jesse Joe Parker.

Parker, 26, who plays at centre, previously played with Championship side Featherstone in 2010 scoring 17 tries in 14 appearances. He was due to join Wakefield for the 2011 season but the Wildcats withdrawn their deal when he missed pre-season training.

Nami, 25 who plays in the stand-off position and Parker were both part of PNG’s 2010 Four Nations squad with Nami scoring a try in their defeat to New Zealand.

The duo is due to join the Championship One sign within three to four weeks ssubject to visa approval which is expected within the month.

Whitehaven had also hoped to secure the signature of Joe Bond and Tommy Butterfield who are also of Papua New Guinea origin but they failed to receive Rugby Football League approval.

Bond and Butterfeild are currently based in Queensland, Australia, the home state of Whitehaven head coach, Don Gailer.

Speaking to BBC Radio Cumbria, Whitehaven chief executive, Barry Richardson said, “We’ve been fighting with the rugby league to bring Bond and Butterfield to Whitehaven.

“We went down as recently as three weeks ago and mad vigorously our case, based on two players that were admitted by the RFL to other clubs.

“But it looks unfortunately that the RFL don’t believe our case will be successful, so we had to move quickly.”