A rugby league team formed in Papua New Guinea to raise awareness about the on-going human rights abuses in West Papua, say they won't be taking a backward step on the field.

The West Papua Warriors is made up of players from PNG's Digicel Cup domestic competition and also features two players from Indonesia's West Papua province.

The Warriors will take on the Philippines development side in Sydney in February.

Team captain Tala Kami says the team was formed to champion a cause but they're also in it to win it.

"Everybody in the team they're competitive rugby league players and everybody wants to win. Yes we do want to promote the cause, yes we do want to promote the issue but we also understand that at the end of the day press and media and people love winners. People like teams that win and you're always going to get noticed if you play well and you win games so I think winning is definitely important but it doesn't overshadow the bigger picture, which is promoting West Papua".