Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, a representative

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

team, comprising Australian players from

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose teams were knocked out during the first three weeks of the finals.

History

The Prime Minister's XIII first played against Papua New Guinea in 2005 at Lloyd Robson Oval in the Papua New Guinean capital,

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

. The team was coached in that match by former

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

State of Origin coach

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

, who coached the side until 2012.

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

State of Origin coach Laurie Daley then took over from 2013 to 2014 with Ivan Cleary coaching the team in 2015. Meninga, appointed Australian test coach in 2016 also re-took the reins that year. Originally played in Port Moresby, in recent years the games have been held in various locations around Papua New Guinea, including Lae and Kokopo. Unlike regular international matches, each team is allowed a five-man bench and given unlimited interchanges throughout the match. Because the selected Australian players are not participating in the NRL finals (and are part of the Australian Test 'train-on' squad), the match is primarily used to keep potential international players match fit ahead of any end-of-season international fixtures. As the match has been played later in September, players who play for a team that has been knocked out in the first two weeks of the finals have been able to be selected for the side. The match is also used to promote rugby league, as well as humanitarian causes such as HIV and AIDS awareness, among the Papua New Guinean community. The PM's XIII has never lost a match against Papua New Guinea since the annual fixture commenced, but was held to a 24–24 draw in 2007, after leading 20–0 at half time. In 2019, the PM's XIII played against the Fiji Prime Minister's XIII for the first time, at the ANZ National Stadium in

Suva Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...

. In 2022, after a two-year absence due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the fixture returned with the PM'x XIII playing the PNG PM's XIII at

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

, the first game to be held in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Current squad

The Australian squad for the match on 13 October 2024 was announced on 3 October 2024.

Results

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2022

2023

2024

Players

Captains

* Luke Ricketson (2005) * Steve Price (2006) * Mark Gasnier (2007) * Nathan Hindmarsh (2008, 2011) * Johnathan Thurston (2009) * Corey Parker (2010) *

Scott Prince Scott Prince (born 27 February 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative, he played club footba ...

(2012) * Robbie Farah (2013) * Greg Bird (2014) * Trent Merrin (2015) * Greg Inglis (2016) * Aaron Woods (2017) * Daly Cherry-Evans (2018, 2022) * Wade Graham (2019) * Cameron Murray (2023) * Damien Cook (2024)

Coaches

(2005–2012, 2016–23) * Laurie Daley (2013–2014) * Ivan Cleary (2015) *

Brad Fittler Bradley Scott Fittler (born 5 February 1972), also known by the nickname of "Freddy", is an Australian rugby league commentator, television presenter, and former player. Fittler captained both New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales ...

(2024)

Records

Team

* Largest winning margins ** 58 58–0 vs PNG PM's XIII, National Football Stadium – 24 September 2016. ** 50 64–14 vs PNG PM's XIII,

– 25 September 2022. ** 42 52–10 v Fiji PM's XIII, ANZ National Stadium – 11 October 2019. ** 40 50–10 vs PNG PM's XIII, Kalabond Oval – 29 September 2013. ** 40 48–8 vs PNG PM's XIII, National Football Stadium – 23 September 2017.

Individual

* Most games ** 6 Jake Trbojevic (2015–19) ** 5 Robbie Farah (2006, 2008–09, 2013–14) ** 5 Aaron Woods (2012, 2014, 2016–18) ** 5 Ben Hunt (2014, 2018–19, 2022–23) * Most tries ** 6 Jarryd Hayne ** 5 Michael Jennings ** 4 Blake Ferguson ** 4 Chris Lawrence * Most points ** 40 Zac Lomax ** 24 Jarryd Hayne ** 24 Mitchell Moses ** 20 Michael Jennings ** 20

* Most tries in a match ** 3 Michael Jennings (2009) ** 3 Mitchell Moses (2016) ** 3 Tom Trbojevic (2017) ** 3

James Tedesco James Tedesco (born 8 January 1993), nicknamed "Teddy", is a professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League, NRL. A former Australia national rugby league team, Australia a ...

(2017) ** 3 Clinton Gutherson (2019) * Most points in a match ** 18 Mitchell Moses (2016) ** 16 Aidan Sezer (2013) ** 16 James Maloney (2017) ** 14 Johnathan Thurston (2007)

References

{{National sports teams of Australia Australia national rugby league team National rugby league teams Prime Minister of Australia Rugby league representative teams in Australia Rugby clubs established in 2005 2005 establishments in Australia