No falafel
What is going on with the Lebanon national team? There has been murmurs that Lebanon have pulled out of this year’s Middle East-Africa Rugby League championship (MEA). The first MEA tournament was held in 2015 as a part of the qualification process for the 2017 World Cup, with the last one held in 2022. Lebanon do now not need to qualify for the 2025 World Cup after reaching the quarter-finals last year. One source told us: “Their participation was always dependent on whether they needed to qualify for the World Cup. If not then it was up to Lebanon if they wanted to take part. Given the state of the country I don’t know if they could without their heritage players.”
David in the Rhinos den
There has been reports that David Fusitu’a is unhappy at Leeds and wants out. We’ve been told that the winger is not enjoying his time in Yorkshire, after a disastrous debut season. But there is hope that having Sam Lisone, his close friend, at Leeds will help him settle. Apparently the two Pacific Islanders are living together in the land of Loiners and are as thick as thieves.
Walkout
A Super League player stormed out of a media day recently after being asked a tricky, but legitimate, question from a journo. We can’t say who it was, but give full credit to the reporter for asking the tough questions.
Stoush
Brian Carney and Dave Rotherham, the RFL’s chief on-field officer, had a verbal stoush on a recent RFL media briefing. Held on Teams, the video chat covered plenty of topics and was attended by journalists and members of Sky’s commentary team. During the briefing Carney questioned Rotherham on why John Bateman was able to controversially use an England Knights match to clear off his Super League ban, just before the World Cup, if we are serious about player welfare and responsibilities. Rotherham said ‘anyone is eligible’ (and other nations were doing it) but, as pointed out, the RFL ironically actively state the Knights is a development squad. Kudos to Carney for pointing out the hypocrisy.
TV blackout
There may be very little Catalans Dragons on TV this year. Analysing the Super League website, just two home games have been confirmed for TV coverage at this point for the whole season, April 8 against Warrington and May 5 against St Helens. We’ve been told that Catalans are still holding talks with beinSPORTS about broadcasting more matches, and are hoping to announce more before the season starts. We hope so.