Latest news with #WillPenisini
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Watch as NRL star Josh Addo-Carr is pranked by his OWN CLUB with brutal fake player rating following launch of video game RugbyLeague26
NRL star Josh Addo-Carr has been stitched up deluxe by the Parramatta Eels, who caught the flyer off-guard with a classic prank following the highly anticipated launch of video game RugbyLeague26 this week. Former representative winger Addo-Carr, 29, was given a fake player rating of 71 by the club's media team - and the 'Foxx' wasn't happy. 'Whoever made this game has no idea about rugby league,' was his immediate reply on camera. Teammate Will Penisini urged the game's creators to 'check the resume' of Addo-Carr, which includes two NRL premierships with the Melbourne Storm as well as the World Cup in 2021, where he was a standout for Australia. Eventually Addo-Carr was informed the numbers were fabricated - and he was all smiles about the 'crazy' wind-up. Other fake ratings of Eels stars included a very generous 86 for centre Jordan Samrani, a harsh 66 for veteran utility Dylan Walker, 87 for replacement halfback Dean Hawkins and 89 for hard-nosed forward Luca Moretti. Understandably, Italian international Moretti was delighted, and cheekily declared: 'the numbers don't lie.' Meanwhile, scores of footy fans have taken to social media to complain about numerous glitches, bugs and frozen loading screens from the video game. 'Not even joking how did this game get the green light?,' one bemused supporter posted on X. Another said: 'This dross is the best you can come up with? Embarrassing.' A third wrote: 'Cannot put into words how bad Rugby League 26 is'. The avalanche of criticism saw Big Ant Studios - who created the game - release a statement on Thursday night, apologising to those who purchased the game. 'We know today has not gone as smoothly as it should have and we will compensate all #RugbyLeague26 purchasers with some free #ProTeam credit,' the Studio posted online. 'Details to follow. There has been overwhelming demand that also may have caused service issues, and for that we cannot apologise enough.' Panthers superstar halfback Nathan Cleary is the highest rated player in the game with a rating of 93.
ABC News
24-05-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Eels rookie Joash Papalii making waves as far afield as Hawaii after stirring NRL debut
Joash Papalii's dream NRL debut will quite literally be celebrated all around the world — and the Parramatta youngster can thank his mum. Around 150 friends and family members attended Parramatta Stadium on Friday night to witness Eels winger Papalii writing the first chapter of his NRL story. The 20-year-old Canterbury junior starred in the Eels' 30-10 upset defeat of Manly after coming on for the concussed Will Penisini less than 90 seconds into the game. Playing on the right, Papalii collected a skidding Dean Hawkins kick and set up a try, finding Jordan Samrani on his outside, before gathering a looping Hawkins pass for a four-pointer of his own. Papalii's debut was fitting reward for patience; he'd been Jason Ryles' replacement player in all but one of Parramatta's games since round two. "I've always dreamed about this, watching it as the 18th man, experiencing the boys playing, it's all I ever wanted to do," Papalii said at fulltime. After biding his time, Papalii became emotional when Ryles told him on Monday that he would be making his first NRL appearance on Friday night. "He just told me straight, 'You'll be debuting this week', and in my mind I was like, 'Are you joking?'" Papalii said. "I was about to cry, I try to hold my tears, but when he said it, it was a relief. I didn't expect it. I didn't expect it this week." For those who couldn't be there in person, Papalii's mother Margaret will make her way to the post office on Monday and post some 90 Papalii T-shirts and jumpers. Some will end up with loved ones as far and wide as New Zealand, Indonesia, Hawaii and the US mainland. "We got made 200 in total, not including the T-shirts that people ordered from overseas, so there's a backlog batch that we're going to send over on Monday," Margaret said. For Papalii, sharing his debut with his mother and father was the highlight of a very special evening. "That's all I wanted to do, is give back to them, my dad and mum, and all the sacrifices they've given me throughout my life," Papalii said. "All the trainings, all the drives, even they would take off work to take me (to footy), and I just wanted to give back and make them proud." AAP
