Complying with Curtin's directive, albeit reluctantly, Blamey arrived in Port Moresby on 23 September 1942 with only a small personal staff. It was a situation which Blamey felt was quite reasonable but with which Rowell saw significant difficulties. Rowell's objections were that the circumstances of Blamey's presence in his headquarters would ultimately undermine the good conduct of its operation by forcing it to serve two masters. McCarthy's reporting of the initial situation suggests that Blamey, while maintaining his position, was conciliatory and empathetic toward Rowell's concerns. Allen recounts that Rowell's objection was not to Blamey using his headquarters as much as the expectation that he (Rowell) was expected to be Blamey's chief-of-staff. Horner observes that this was much how the headquarters subsequently operated under Herring. Underpinning the events that followed was bad blood between them stemming from Blamey's conduct in the Middle East and Greece. Perhaps, more importantly, there was a sense of disappointment in Blamey's lack of support by way of resolve to oppose the decision to send Blamey to New Guinea. In at letter to Major General Cyril Clowes at Milne Bay, Rowell said on this, "Either I am fit to command the show or I am not."