As the knockout stage of the World Cup begins, it’s time to say farewell to the minnows who give the tournament so much of its flavour.
The Greeks and the Jamaicans, the Irish and the Welsh — they’re scattered to the four winds and will head back to the farthest corners of the rugby league world.
Due to the haphazard nature of international footy, most of these teams don’t know when they’ll be playing again. It could be a year, it could be two or more.
That’s life on the outskirts of Test football. When a team leaves our screens there’s no way of knowing when they’ll come back.
All of this combines to make Lebanon’s clash with Australia the last stand of the World Cup battlers, a date with destiny against the best team in the world and a final cry of defiance before the full-time professionals collide head on to decide world supremacy.
Not that Lebanon are looking at it that way. They’re 50-1 underdogs to be sure, but they’re not looking to just put up a fight or do themselves proud. They kept New Zealand honest before they downed Ireland and Jamaica, and they’re going to Huddersfield on Saturday morning (AEDT) to win.
“As soon as I finished the New Zealand game I said it was the best game I’ve ever played in so it’ll be good to do something like that again,” said centre Brad Morkos.
“We’ll give them a good crack and we’re really confident in our ability. We think we can get the win.”
Morkos is a 19-year old flyer from the Raiders. He spent the season in NSW Cup and the club has high hopes for him.
While he’s never had to mark someone like Kangaroos megastar Latrell Mitchell in his entire life, come Friday night that’s exactly what he’ll do.
Morkos has spent most of his life watching the Australia star dominate the NRL but he won’t back down. He’s a Cedar now, and he has no choice but to stand tall.
“He has a bit of aggression, a bit of speed, but I just have to keep it the same. Nothing different, treat him like every other centre. I’ll give him everything I have,” said Morkos.
“He’s one of the biggest names in the NRL and for a good reason, but once you start stressing too much that’s when your game falls apart.”
Every player from every other quarter-final team, bar a few Papua New Guinea players, are full-time footballers.
There is but a sprinkling of first graders across the Cedars line up, although they’ve made the most of them.
Jacob Kiraz and Adam Doueihi have both proven their class through the nation’s three matches, Josh Mansour has looked like a man reborn and Parramatta halfback Mitchell Moses should enter player of the tournament discussions.
But there’s others, like Morkos, or 18-year-old forward Jaxon Rahme, boys who are just starting out, and men like 35-year old Reece Robinson, who’s been playing local footy in Canberra just to make sure he’d be ready to go if his country needed him.
A grand finalist and an Origin player, Mitchell Moses is the undeniable star of the Lebanon team.(Getty Images: Michael Steele)
Beyond the regular players, there are some regular guys. Tony Maroun was ready to give up footy to focus on his plumbing business when he got the call to represent his heritage and Robin Hachache, who earned selection from the Tripoli Kings, is flying the flag for the old country.
At the centre of it all is Michael Cheika, who’s cross-code coaching effort is the story of the tournament.
He might be a rugby union coach and all footballers are different but Cheika understands that, at one level or another, all footballers have a few things in common.
They all have buttons you can push, and he knows how and when to do it.
“He’s a very smart man. It felt like he picked up the game in a week. His methods, his style, it’s all mental,” said Morkos.
“It’s not so much the tactics, even though he’s had plenty, he makes sure our preparation is good, our mindset is good, we know our core values and we hammer them in.
“He does it in the way that leaves it up to the boys. He knows the boys want it — we have a whole country behind us — so he leaves that to us, he knows we want this and he puts us in a position to show that.”
Michael Cheika made the leap from the other rugby code and has the Cedars playing attractive footy.(Getty Images: Mike Egerton/PA Images)
Like any self-respecting minnow nation, Lebanon has had an eventful World Cup off the field. They’ve been targeted by thieves twice, first recovering some stolen jerseys in a vacant lot near the hotel, then chasing down the would-be burglars who attempted to take off with some of the team’s laptops.
It has created bonds that will last a lifetime, and for someone like Morkos, the tournament has been a gateway into his own families past, a past he’s never really known until now.
“It’s been one of the best trips I’ve been a part of. All the boys have synced in and bonded really well – it feels like we’ve played a full season in these past few weeks,” Morkos said.
“I’m Lebanese through my father, most of his family are still in Lebanon and before I made this squad I haven’t heard too much other than two or three relatives but since then they’ve all started reaching out and I really want to learn more about that heritage.
“My mum and my aunty have flown over. They’re the most Aussie people you’ll ever meet but they’ve taken to the Lebanese lifestyle these past few weeks.”
A match against Australia is a fine post-script for the Cedars, no matter the scoreline, because for all their belief, they will need a miracle to win.
In all likelihood, Lebanon will say goodbye just as every journey has an end and nobody will begrudge them going home with their heads held high.
But every end is also a beginning of what comes next. Lebanon will likely take up the long journey home after this weekend, but it shouldn’t be the last we see of them until the next World Cup in France in 2025.
What the Cedars have proven through their rise is the vibrancy and colour of international rugby league, the pride and the passion that fuels this maligned avenue of the sport and the worth of persistence.
Morkos didn’t know Lebanon had a footy team until he saw them play in the 2017 tournament. As the old saying goes, you can’t be what you can’t see.
And maybe they’ll never be wearing NRL jerseys on the streets of Beirut, but the Cedars have built something and through care and hard work, they’ve made it special.
With a bit of persistence, who knows how high a Cedar might grow?
Source:: ABC News
