AN opportunity to follow an Australian Football League dream has bought six Papua New Guinea teenagers to Cairns.

The group arrived last week to train with the Cairns under-18 development squad.

Their trademark pace, evasive skills and ball-carrying abilities are noticeable from the moment you watch them train with their Far North counterparts.

And for many, the trip to Cairns is the first step on the path to hopefully bigger and better things, with the ultimate aim to emulate star countryman Mal Michael.

AFL Cairns development manager Eddie Skiba said the boys added an X factor to the Cairns under-18 squad. "Their knowledge and awareness of the game is very good," Skiba said.

"With Mal Michael, his profile has really helped raise awareness of the game in PNG, and there is a real development structure there throughout the major cities and towns now."

Skiba said the boys would train with the Cairns squad in preparation for the under-18 Queensland Country Championships in Rockhampton.

Beyond that, state championships beckon for those good enough and one step further is state representation, as PNG is accepted as a region of Queensland under the AFL structure.

"All the players who have come through this year, they all look pretty smooth, and I have to say the skill level is better than the group that came through last year," Skiba said.

While PNG players Ogla Pena, Ferdinand Musi, Willie Nicholas, Jackson Bell and Augustine Bede are making their first trip to Australia for football, Bergman Talingapua has done it all before.

Talingapua, 17, was part of the group which travelled to Australia last year. He lists one of his highlights as playing in a Manunda Hawks under-18 premiership last season.

This time around, however, he wants a spot in the Queensland Country Kookaburras team that will compete at the state championships. "I'm hoping to be selected in the Kookaburras and the state side. I’m learning a lot from the training here in Australia," he said.

Before next month's country championships in Rockhampton, the Cairns under-18 squad will travel to Townsville for a match against a Townsville under-18 team next Saturday before a game against a South Cairns young guns team on February 9.