Papua New Guinea have showcased their potential in a 42-20 Prime Ministers' XIII loss to Australia as the NRL prepares to imminently grant the Pacific nation a licence to join the competition.
Rarely has the annual clash held as much intrigue as on Sunday in Port Moresby, given a year of developments to bring rugby league-mad PNG into the NRL from 2028.
PNG's capacity to harness local talent and field a competitive team from the outset have been among concerns over the Australian government-backed bid. The PNG team had lost three of the past four PM's XIII fixtures by 42 points or more.
But watching from the sidelines, NRL boss Andrew Abdo would have been encouraged that a local team comprised mostly of players from the Queensland Cup's PNG Hunters could compete with NRL talent - albeit in patches.
Speaking earlier in the afternoon, Abdo would not provide a firm timeline for unveiling the PNG expansion team but was hopeful of announcing details soon.
"We've put a lot of hard work in, it's been the culmination of a lot effort from a lot of people on both sides in terms of Australia and Papua New Guinea," he said.
"We're very excited about what this opportunity presents for us, and hopefully an announcement soon."
On the back of an error from Australia prop Alex Seyfarth, PNG hooker Judah Rimbu burrowed over from dummy-half for the first points after four minutes.
PNG were keeping pace with the clock when, following a Fletcher Sharpe knock-on, the hosts shifted left for Robert Mathias to beat fellow centre Reuben Garrick en route to the tryline.
The class of the Australian playmakers began to shine through as Luke Brooks and Tyran Wishart came on from the bench.
Brooks caught PNG without a marker and darted down the left edge before passing inside to ex-Wests Tigers teammate Jacob Liddle, who gave Australia the lead late in the first half.
Canberra's Kaeo Weekes replaced Sharpe at fullback after the break and had two tries in six minutes to extend the advantage.
In the most memorable of those, Australia rolled upfield where Tallis Duncan flicked an offload away just in time for Weekes to glide over.
An Australian victory felt inevitable at that point, but there were more PNG highlights to come.
A cover tackle from Rimbu denied Beau Fermor a second try, before PNG stormed upfield to create the highlight moment of the afternoon.
Left winger Dudley Dotoi, who had earlier bombed a try, broke through on the left edge and put in a chip kick over Weekes.
Five-eighth Finley Glare grabbed a tough bounce to crash over and send the crowd into raptures, before PNG centre Alex Max had the final try of the day.
