RLWC 2026

jamesgould said:
Might explain why he hasn’t been firing on all cylinders this year.

Meanwhile … Crossland into the World Cup!

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I’m confused why he wasn’t included in the first place if he’s been called up now.

I did think it was because they didn’t want a suspended player in the squad - limiting their options.

He was floated as next man up and a possible injury replacement - which would have made sense if there was an injury in the opening 3 games and then Crossland comes in and they only “miss” the squad player for 1-2 games.

But now he’s in, before a ball is kicked. Which brings me back to, why wasn’t he in the squad to begin with?
 
bremsstrahlung said:
I’m confused why he wasn’t included in the first place if he’s been called up now.

I did think it was because they didn’t want a suspended player in the squad - limiting their options.

He was floated as next man up and a possible injury replacement - which would have made sense if there was an injury in the opening 3 games and then Crossland comes in and they only “miss” the squad player for 1-2 games.

But now he’s in, before a ball is kicked. Which brings me back to, why wasn’t he in the squad to begin with?
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Chess, maybe theres an injury now.
 
Anyone planning to go to Fiji vs Cook Islands at McDonald Jones on Sunday?

Pool B and C look really interesting, just the top two sides go through to the semis. England vs Tonga on Saturday will be a huge game on Saturday. But then Tonga still have to play Samoa, Samoa don't play England. So it's not quite an elimination game.

The England side looks quite weak to me though, I could see Tonga and Samoa making it out of this pool.
 
jamesgould said:
Confirmed here, gutted for Greg. No details on the injury: https://toasamoarl.com/toa-samoa-confirm-squad-change-ahead-of-rugby-league-world-cup/
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Absolutely gutting - there was an article last week where Greg talked about changing his surname to Marzhew to represent his maternal Grandfather who raised him after his biological father left. Greg said he chose to represent Samoa to honour his Grandfather, who passed two years ago.

I'm glad he managed one test for Samoa in 2023 but he deserves more rep jerseys and would've thrived as part of a strong Samoan back 5.
 
bremsstrahlung said:
I’m confused why he wasn’t included in the first place if he’s been called up now.

I did think it was because they didn’t want a suspended player in the squad - limiting their options.

He was floated as next man up and a possible injury replacement - which would have made sense if there was an injury in the opening 3 games and then Crossland comes in and they only “miss” the squad player for 1-2 games.

But now he’s in, before a ball is kicked. Which brings me back to, why wasn’t he in the squad to begin with?
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International Rugby League is a bit of a nightmare in the sense there's not much clarity around these squads - Teams were made to name a 40-man squad around a month ago, one player could be named in multiple squads, various coaches have referenced restrictions on calling up players outside of that 40-man squad, some teams have shadow players/injury reserves etc. It's painfully difficult to follow.

Apologies if I've missed an official confirmation but I daresay that video is merely confirming they've brought him into camp to assist with preparation, rather than announcing he's joined their 23-man playing squad. This probably has a dual-purpose in supporting our application to have the World Cup games count toward his suspension - If approved, the Kiwis would be able to call him up if they get an injury during the pool games, whereas if our application isn't approved he'll still be suspended for the WC Finals and they lose that opportunity. Bringing him into camp surely kills any argument around his "non-selection" in their 23-man squad as it relates to his suspension.
 
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