Michael Cheika is coaching Lebanon at the League World Cup while under contract with the Argentinian Rugby Team.
Surely that's a first.
Michael Cheika is coaching Lebanon at the League World Cup while under contract with the Argentinian Rugby Team.
Surely that's a first.
I had to turn it off at 22-0 (missed the football as well wahey), but Penrith are winning it again next year unless somebody can annihilate Nathan Cleary before the finals. I think they won all of the junior/reserve competitions as well this year, so it's hard to see anything other than a severe salary cap squeeze de-railing them any time soon. South Sydney look best placed to be their nearest challenger next year, but even that depends on a career year from Latrell Mitchell, which the inevitable injuries and suspensions make difficult.
I couldn't last more than 20 minutes.
Last nights Grand Final had the smallest TV audience of all time barely registered outside of NSW and QLD.
Cheika has managed to put together a decent squad.
Lebanon
Jalal Bazzaz (Wests Illawarra)
Adam Doueihi (Wests Tigers)
Hanna El-Nachar (Penrith Panthers)
Toufic El-Hajj (American University of Beirut)
Elie El-Zakhem (Parramatta Eels)
Atef Hamdan (Wolves, Lebanon
Kayne Kalache (Newtown Jets)
Andrew Kazzi (Western Suburbs Magpies)
Jacob Kiraz (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Bilaal Maarbani (Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles)
Anthony Layoun (St Marys Saints)
Josh Mansour (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Jaxson Rahme (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Josh Maree (Wentworthville United)
Tony Maroun (Ryde-Eastwood Hawks)
Abbas Miski (Wigan Warriors)
Brad Morkos (Canberra Raiders)
Mitchell Moses (Parramatta Eels)
Khalil Rahme (Mt Pritchard Mounties)
Khaled Rajab (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Reece Robinson (unattached)
James Roumanos (Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles)
Mikey Tannous (Wests Tigers)
Charbel Tasipale (Newtown Jets).
How do you think they will go against Jamaica? @Lewis
Last edited by Queenslander; 03-10-2022 at 03:55 AM.
That lot should flatten Jamaica. Jason Robinson is their operations manager (whatever that does), and he could probably get a game.
Damn I hoped it might've been closer.
Last edited by Queenslander; 03-10-2022 at 10:07 AM.
Ireland could give Lebanon a game. Luke Keary; Richie Myler was unlucky not to make England squad; James Bentley would have done if he wasn't a liability with his discipline; the Senior twins are handy; and then you have some solid jobbers all around them. No supercoach though.
The Kangaroos look light enough in the forwards that this might not be a foregone conclusion.
Does everyone who doesn't make England/Australia just tool around for a new country on the eve of the tournament? Makes a game of it, I suppose.
It is with the likes of Ireland and Lebanon, but half of the Samoa and Tonga teams could have made the Australia and New Zealand squads if they hadn't Tebbit Tested themselves out of contention to make their grandmothers proud. I think the only team without an Australian in is Jamaica, since otherwise fully-French France called up Samisoni Langi (Australia/Tonga) on residency, and we picked Victor Radley whose dad is from Sheffield.
Meninga is such a dickhead.
Cameron Munster – not Nathan Cleary or Daly Cherry-Evans – will wear the Kangaroos’ No.7 jersey at the World Cup.
But before league fans wonder if Australia coach Mal Meninga has outsmarted himself when it comes to the halfback debate, the Herald can reveal the number allocation relates to a new rule by Cup organisers.
Rather than wear a number based on position, players have been given squad numbers for the duration of the Cup.
The easiest option would have been to allocate numbers based on the likely starting 17.
But Kangaroos assistant Michael Hagan devised a system that acknowledged players who had worn the green and gold jersey longest.
James Tedesco is an exception to that rule and will wear the No.1 jersey, not because he is fullback but because he is captain.
Nathan Cleary, Cameron Munster and Daly Cherry-Evans. Nathan Cleary, Cameron Munster and Daly Cherry-Evans.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
Cherry-Evans received No.2 based on when he made his Kangaroos debut. Ben Hunt will wear No.3 and Valentine Holmes No.4.
Winger Josh Addo-Carr said he would channel his inner-Cameron Smith as the No.9 and tipped Latrell Mitchell to “cop some shit” for wearing the No.8.
Those yet to debut for Australia were allocated numbers in alphabetical order, with Cleary to wear No.14, and starting lock forward Isaah Yeo in No.24.
Cherry-Evans remained hopeful he would challenge Cleary to start at halfback for the first Cup game, and was not prepared to concede defeat to the premiership-winning Panther. The Manly star was worried he would miss out on the Kangaroos squad altogether after the Sea Eagles’ season ended before the finals.
The NSW and Queensland No.7s are in a ding-dong battle for the Kangaroos’ role. The NSW and Queensland No.7s are in a ding-dong battle for the Kangaroos’ role.CREDIT:GETTY
“It was a really long four weeks watching the NRL finals unfold, and until your name is called out, you just never know,” Cherry-Evans told the Herald.
“The Cup was something I had earmarked for such a long time.
“I honestly don’t know [who will start at halfback in the first game]. Mal has been really open about how close this battle will be.
“We’re going over with no preconceived idea around the halfback situation, and we’ll have to earn our spot in that side.”
Kangaroos Squad Numbers James Tedesco Daly Cherry-Evans Ben Hunt Valentine Holmes Jake Trbojevic Reagan Campbell-Gillard Cameron Munster Latrell Mitchell Josh Addo-Carr Jack Wighton Cameron Murray Matt Burton Pat Carrigan Nathan Cleary Lindsay Collins Reuben Cotter Angus Crichton Tino Fa’asuamaleaui Campbell Graham Harry Grant Liam Martin Jeremiah Nanai Murray Tuilagi Isaah Yeo
Asked how tough it was watching Cleary shine in September, Cherry-Evans said: “Knowing what was on the line, it did make it harder to watch him play so well. But I also know how strong that Panthers side was, and he was always going to be a big part of it.”
Cherry-Evans heads to England on Thursday night knowing there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding Manly and the immediate future of coach Des Hasler.
“I don’t know what’s going on, and as a playing group we’ve understood all we can do is rock up to preseason training and work hard to bring it all back together,” Cherry-Evans said.
“I’ve been in constant contact with Des. I don’t have any special updates. I’m actually trying to distance myself a little bit from it because the more I talk about it, the more people want to have a go at me about it.”
Cherry-Evans said there were no issues with him and Jake Trbojevic, and they had caught up for “a couple of coffee dates” along with fellow Sea Eagle Tom Trbojevic.
“We’ve put together a few ideas about how we want the team to look next year, on the field and off the field,” Cherry-Evans said.
“The three of us are gutted about how last season finished, and we’ve been really proactive about how we can help the team come together and play better footy.”
England 50 - 0 Fiji
It’s coming home.
I'm a twit
Bennett has lost the plot.
“It is pretty ordinary stuff mate, it is pretty ordinary stuff, that’s the part, I understand managers and all that, and there is a need for them,” Bennett said on Triple M’s Rush Hour with Leisel Jones, Liam and Dobbo.
“But what I can’t get and what I don’t relate to is the fact that the players, in all the tough conversations that have got to be had, are missing.
“They don’t ring you up and tell you they are not coming, they don’t have to make that phone call, that is a tough phone call, it’s a phone call none of us want to make but you want to be a man, you have got to behave like one.
“Don’t have your manager ring up and tell them you aren’t coming.”
“I think they miss out on a very important learning phase in their life, how to say no and how to say no by you saying no, decently,” Bennett said.
“Not having someone else go ‘here I’ll message for you’.
“I remember I got my mother to ring up my little friend when I wanted to go to the football… I didn’t have the courage to ring up and ask him could I go, I’d get my mother and I hated myself for it.
“I taught myself not to ask my mother anymore for it because I knew I should have been doing it, if I was the one that wanted to go.
“It is tough telling someone you aren’t going to come when there is a lot of effort, but that’s the price you have got to pay so you can grow into the man that you can be proud of.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl...mJVAvPQ0-2KFGY
Last edited by Queenslander; 08-10-2022 at 03:47 AM.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/63232043
This isn't my area, not sure if anyone on here knows - why has this happened to two clubs in a month? I know Wasps have mitigating factors, but are there replacement clubs who draw a crowd or is rugby going to have to shrink down to 8 or 10?
From my understanding the gap between the Premiership and the Championship is massive so no one is capable of stepping up.
They should let the Bloemfontein Cheetahs join as they are currently without a league and let them play out of London.
Last edited by Queenslander; 13-10-2022 at 05:43 AM.
Wasps sounds like they based their Coventry business model on the stadium facilities paying the bills which meant the pandemic hit them twice as hard. No idea about Worcester, but presumably it's just a crap area for a professional rugby team.
There was a comment under a Telegraph article I read that reckons the sport (at club level at least) is simply living beyond its means, with wages well in excess of what a lot of clubs are actually capable of paying. It sounds a bit like Super League in that of the twelve clubs only about four are run soundly, another couple get by with idiots paying the bills, another few are just about getting by, and then you have a couple who are three bad seasons off completely falling to bits.
Same as cricket then. Football has eaten all three.
Possibly the worst opening ceremony of all time.
Booing some of this dickhead haka.
Pretty aggressive for a friendly welcome or whatever it is they try to pretend it is [other than an attempt to intimidate].
I went to Hull FC vs New Zealand in 2002 (the last ever match at the Boulevard), and the haka was lolled and booed out of the county. You would probably get a three game stadium ban for it these days after Adidas threatened to leave the sport.
Maybe speaking too soon, but Samoa needed to splat us early before they start having heart attacks. Their two halves are too similar (and overrated), and we've got Jack fucking Welsby mate.
Couple of cracking cut out passes [or whatever they are called] but the Samoan winger should probably try covering Young at some point rather than stepping inside every time.
This is unlike England though.
Nice one Welsby you spaz.
That didn't look forward.
At the same time that looked like a try to me on the replay.
I think if the referee sends it up as a try he gets it, so he's done himself by not celebrating.
Yeah, that was it. Didn't look like a try in real time precisely because of the player's reaction.
Superstar at full-back has had a honking game. His 'mentor' was telling the Roosters to move James Tedesco on earlier in the season as well.
That did look forward.
This is some meltdown from Samoa.
May have peaked too soon here.
Matt Parish sat there in his massive gold watch as well.
I was thinking this.Originally Posted by niko_cee
Is anyone going to a game?
I have a ticket for the London semi-final and Australia vs Scotland on Friday in Coventry, which my friend bought somebody by accident thinking it was union.
Never realised it was a World Cup that was on. BBC?
Yeah, BBC have all 61 games [as they frequently mentioned in the game today]. Australia up soon on BBC2.
Fiji managed the elusive successful eleven metre drop-out. They should get a point for that.
Unfortunately.
Channel 4 would have definitely been preferable.
I’ve tickets for Italy vs Australia. Was also invited to Tonga vs PNG but cba going on a Tuesday.
Will have to dig my WORLD CUP WALLCHART out the loft today.
I'm a twit
I thought Jamaica would be crap, but not that crap. New Zealand could put a hundred on them.
The crowds are a bit worrying up to now. New Zealand vs Samoa sold Warrington out in 2013, but this looks a third full at best. People have been saying for ages that the ticket prices are a joke (I paid £55 for a Cat D semi-final ticket), and it looks like they were right. Typical.
[source]
Embarrassing.
Hopefully my games a bit busier with it being a Saturday, but at least the queue for the bar will be short and I might get on TV.
I'm a twit
I had no idea about this game did you @Lewis?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983...puVxWti2E_mbiY
Last edited by Queenslander; 17-10-2022 at 05:54 AM.
Yeah. Mark Broadhurst knocked whoever the Queensland hooker was spark out, and the club, arguably the most smalltime club in Super League, still celebrates it. In the longer footage you see the referee lolling as he awards the penalty.
That's amazing.
I'm a twit
Damn, that's the speed of a champion.
Last edited by Queenslander; 17-10-2022 at 09:23 PM.
In awe of that refereeing. Get up son.
It's perfect I cant believe I didn't know.
Last edited by Queenslander; 18-10-2022 at 03:09 AM.
It's like an April Fools joke but real.
That was the worst game I've ever seen live. If you're going to have shit contests like that at least have them in Scotland and make the tickets cheap enough to fill it with seethe.
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