Power Meri

The national sport in Papua New Guinea is Rugby. Power Meri follows Papua New Guinea’s first national women’s rugby league team, the PNG Orchids, on their journey to participate in the World Cup . These trailblazers must beat not only the sporting competition, but also intense sexism, a lack of funding, and national prejudice to reach their biggest stage yet.

Proud, strong and hopeful, these women have overcome more challenges than most to take the field in their much-loved national sport. But after years playing at grassroots level with no coaches, funding or support, they have just a short time to transform themselves into a competitive national team to take up an invitation to compete on the world stage.

Power Meri explores the broader social impact of the rise of women’s sport through themes of empowerment, national identity, prejudice, resilience and hope. From the roughest suburbs of Port Moresby to the lush PNG highlands, this powerful film takes viewers on a captivating journey through rarely-seen corners of PNG, guided by young Papua New Guinean women who dream of changing their country through sport.