Meninga begins training PNG's rugby league team

Australian rugby league legend Mal Meninga has begun training Papua New Guinea's national rugby league team.

Meninga signed on last month to become the Kumuls' high performance director for the next five years.

He says his first priority is to get the side ready for the 14th Rugby League World Cup to be held in England and Wales this October.

"My short term goal is to make sure the players understand what is necessary to get to the next level," he said.

"That's what we're doing at the moment, trying to build a culture, a set of values, a philosophy for the players to understand what they need to do individually and as a group."

In Papua New Guinea, rugby is a national obsession and the high profile acquisition has given the team a big morale boost.

Meninga has put the players through their paces at the first training session for the year.

Kumuls second-rower, Larsan Marabe, says he is excited to be working with Meninga.

"For me, for myself, I'm so proud that I'm going to learn something out of him," he said.

"Get much better and fitter and play with the best in the world cup."

Kumuls coach, Adrian Lam, says having Meninga will help the team improve their fitness levels, which he says are at about 50 per cent compared to the international standard.

"We feel that if we can get them to a level that's equal with Australia, New Zealand and England, we feel we can really compete," he said.

"Once we add in the 'Mal Meninga factor' and also coaching on a full-time basis."

Papua New Guinea certainly doesn't lack raw talent, but it has struggled to prove itself on the world stage.

Despite this, Meninga is confident the team can grow to be a major presence in world rugby.

"The World Cup's coming back down to the southern hemisphere in 2017," he said.

"I want to see Papua New Guinea host World Cup games here in Papua New Guinea and also be successful."