RL World Cup 2017 Thread...* SPOILERS

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**Fifita should never be selected for NSW again after this. Knowing how shoddy the rules are though, I'm sure he'll be one of the first Blues chosen next year.**
Matulino has to be unlucky, especially given no Taulmalolo, Bromwich and Proctor. Was one of the Warriors best towards the end of the year. No complaints though, means he will be fresh for us.

yep the rules allow him to choose aus/tonga. he can't choose nz/england and if he did he wouldnt be able to play origin
but why shouldn't he be selected?

Playing for you country is a higher honour then playing for your state.

If you turn down the opportunity to play for your country, you don't deserve to play for your state.

He is playing for his country!

He was born in Australia
 
Fiji Bati v PNG Hunters v Australia..

Will be live streamed here.. http://fijione.tv/livestream/

3.30pm PNG / Qld or 4.30pm NSW time..
 
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What's this Geo a 3 way warm up?

Yes..Fiji v PNG 40min then Australia v PNG 40min finishing with Australia v Fiji 40mins..

Unlimited interchange Mal said Smith, Cronk, Morgan and Slater wont play but the rest of the Squad should get game time..
 
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Lebanon Cedars Rugby League World Cup 2017 Squad

Robbie Farah (Captain – South Sydney)
Mitchell Moses (Vice Captain – Parramatta Eels)
Danny Barakat (Wentworthville)
Jamie Clark (Auburn Warriors)
Adam Doueihi (South Sydney)
James Elias (West Newcastle)
Ahmad Ellaz (Auburn Warriors)
Nick Kassis (Blacktown Workers)
**Andrew Kazzi (Wests Tigers)**
Anthony Layoun (Parramatta Eels)
Michael Lichaa (Bulldogs)
Mitchell Mamary (Wentworthville)
Bilal Maarbani (Manly Sea Eagles)
Abbas Miski (North Sydney)
Tim Mannah (Parramatta Eels)
Ray Moujalli (Bulldogs)
Reece Robinson (unattached)
Travis Robinson (Newtown)
Chris Saab (Blacktown Workers)
**<big>Raymond Sabat (Lycans FC)</big>**
**Jaleel Seve-Derbas (Wests Tigers)**
Elias Sukkar (Wentworthville)
**Alex Twal (Wests Tigers)**
Jason Wehbe (unattached)

Surely there are few more Leb heritage players running around in the NRL that could make this side a bit stronger? Mansour should be there instead of playing for Aus.

It appears that Raymond Sabat is the token Lebo from Lebanon but he has an Anglo first name - ha ha ha.

Farah may have earnt the captaincy over Mannah due to his outstanding game against the Eels last round of Bunnies Vs Eels. Next time could be Mannah and with still Moses backing up. Moses would not dare tank it this tourney - they kill horses for less. Remember that South American soccer goalie who did an own game and did not survive the trip home.
 
If anyone is interested in watching a RLWC warmup game between Lebanon and Niue (currently playing at Leichhardt Oval), it is being streamed live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LebanonRL/
 
thanks, many mistakes but was funny watching Farah playing half back and not getting the ball from no. 9 - for first part of game at least. Niue island only the size of a postage stamp had a decent team considering.
 
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thanks, many mistakes but was funny watching Farah playing half back and not getting the ball from no. 9 - for first part of game at least. Niue island only the size of a postage stamp had a decent team considering.

Was Twal playing?
 
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thanks, many mistakes but was funny watching Farah playing half back and not getting the ball from no. 9 - for first part of game at least. Niue island only the size of a postage stamp had a decent team considering.

Was Twal playing?

Don't believe so. Moses not there either. Maybe more of a test/practice for the coarch to see the others (there were 3 different players who were kicking goals). The only NRL players that I recognised for Lebanon were Farah and Lichaa, and Wes Lolo (Tigers) was playing for Niue.
 
http://www.nrl.com/i-want-to-give-back-to-lebanon-farah/tabid/10874/newsid/113857/default.aspx

Great moments are born from great opportunity.

Those are the immortal words of coach Herb Brooks (portrayed by Kurt Russell in the film Miracle) ahead of the USA's shock win over the USSR in the 1980 Winter Olympics ice hockey gold medal match.

Robbie Farah has had some great moments throughout his lengthy career at both club and representative level, but arguably his most cherished came 15 years ago when he was given an unlikely opportunity to represent Lebanon in a game against France.

"The game was in November, and a couple of months before they had tryouts – I think it was at Leichhardt - but I was on tour with the Wests Tigers Cubs, which was like an under-18s team put together," he recalled.

"We were in New Zealand so I couldn't make the tryouts, but I really wanted to make the Lebanese side so I sent John Elias – he was the coach at the time – a highlights tape of me.

"He saw something in me from a highlights tape, and from all reports everyone was talking him out of picking me, but he wanted me in the side. He took me over pretty much unseen - the only time he'd ever seen me was from a highlights tape - and I got picked as the starting halfback.

"Hazem (El Masri) was our captain and I was in awe of the players around me. I was just a young kid, we went to Lebanon and we won 36-6\. I started at halfback and scored the first try of the game and then there was a complete blackout as we were walking back to halfway after my try.

"We were all pretty worried because we didn't know what was going on and whether the game would continue or not. About 10 minutes later the generators kicked in and the lights came back on.

"It was a big win, 36-6, because France were ranked fourth in the world at the time so it was a massive win for us. It was one of the best tours of my life and some of my best friends to this day are guys I met on that tour from that team."

Farah has since won a premiership with the Wests Tigers and helped the NSW Blues orchestrate a stunning drought-breaking series win over Queensland in 2014, but it was his maiden Test cap as a teenager that stands above the rest.

With relatives in the stands, a cousin on the bench and family watching back in Sydney, it's a memory that will stay with Farah forever.

"Back home I know the family were watching it on TV with the uncles and the cousins. From all reports they were all in tears because it means a hell of a lot to them," he explained.

"When you think of my parents and my cousins' parents, they left their home town 40 or 50 years ago to come here to give their children a better life, but they've still got an emotional attachment to their motherland, so to see one of their kids pull on the colours of Lebanon, you can imagine how much it means to our parents.

"I was at my dad's house yesterday (Wednesday), actually, walking up his stairwell, and he's still got my framed Lebanon jersey from the one Test match I played up on the wall. It's been there for 15 years and I don't think it'll ever move."

Unable to remember much from his first trip to Lebanon with his mother and sister as a four-year-old, Farah has been back twice in the past few years.

The most recent trip saw the 33-year-old play tour guide to his brother, but it was his 2013 visit after the Rugby League World Cup that hits home the hardest for Farah who had lost his mother to cancer the previous year.

"I went back after the World Cup in 2013\. I went straight to Lebanon for a week or so on my own," he recalled.

"Mum was one of 11 kids – my grandmother's still alive – and the majority of them are still in Lebanon. Since my mum passed away in 2012, I wanted to go over and see my mother's family and pay my respects and see them. That was a pretty emotional week for me. It was pretty tough going back there without mum because it brought back a lot of memories, which was tough."

Fifteen years after he was given a chance as an untested halfback, the creative No.9 now wants to give back to the Cedars on the game's biggest stage.

"I made the commitment to Lebanon last year. I had my time playing for Australia, and while I don't think I was ever a chance to get picked, my time was done and there's someone else in there now," he said.

"Even if it did get to a point where, say Cam (Kangaroos hooker, Cameron Smith) got injured or six other hookers – I don't know how many would be in front of me – got injured and I did get the call to play for Australia, I would have probably knocked that back because I'm really looking forward to giving back to Lebanon.

"That opportunity when I was an 18-year-old, I can't speak highly enough of how much that did for me and how much that improved me as a player. I'll never forget now at my age and the point I'm at in my career, I'm really looking forward to giving back to Lebanon."
 
Farah's article gives an insight into why some players want to represent the country of their heritage. So we should understand Fafita etc. who have changed jumpers.
 
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Farah's article gives an insight into why some players want to represent the country of their heritage. So we should understand Fafita etc. who have changed jumpers.

Both Fifita & Tomo are piss-poor decisions.

If they put there hand up at the start of the year and openly stated their intentions, I would accept and support such actions as I am all for seeing the growth of RL. But both these choices are more about personal grips and have little to nothing in relation to Farahs choice to represent Lebanon.
 
Was a pretty good effort by Farah only 18 years old at halfback scoring Lebanon's first try against their ex-colonist master France and a tidy score of 36-6\. I think also they may have also defeated NSW Country as well.
 
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How come the Aus Aborigines don't have their team as well?

Two very good reasons come to mind.

1\. The World Cup is for teams from Countries not for people within a country.

2\. The Aboriginals are covered in the World Cup because they are Australians. This system is working as it
is promoting unity and not segregation.

That's why they don't have a team in the World Cup BBF.
 
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How come the Aus Aborigines don't have their team as well?

Two very good reasons come to mind.

1\. The World Cup is for teams from Countries not for people within a country.

2\. The Aboriginals are covered in the World Cup because they are Australians. This system is working as it
is promoting unity and not segregation.

That's why they don't have a team in the World Cup BBF.

they're not a country, it's a group of people. Just like there isn't an all white team or an all black team or a hispanic team
 
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Farah's article gives an insight into why some players want to represent the country of their heritage. So we should understand Fafita etc. who have changed jumpers.

Both Fifita & Tomo are piss-poor decisions.

If they put there hand up at the start of the year and openly stated their intentions, I would accept and support such actions as I am all for seeing the growth of RL. But both these choices are more about personal grips and have little to nothing in relation to Farahs choice to represent Lebanon.

what were their reasons? I think it's ok if they want to play for their other country.
 

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