Cronin brothers to play together in Malta Test Match
Making your international rugby league debut is a momentous occasion in itself.
For Maitland’s Peter and Jesse Cronin, however, the event will have an additional layer of significance.
It’ll be the first time the brothers have ever taken the field together, with both selected in the Malta rugby league team gunning for qualification in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.
“It’ll be the first game we’ve ever played together. There’s 10 years between us. I think it was a package deal, they wanted him so they had to take me,” joked the elder Cronin, Peter.
While he plays as a rugged prop for the Kurri Bulldogs, younger brother Jesse takes to the field at lock for the Parramatta Eels’ Jersey Flegg side.
After qualifying for the Malta national team through their mother, the duo are set to come off the bench in a June 24 test match against South Africa in Sydney.
It’s a proud moment for the entire Cronin family, Peter said.
“We’ve never been to Malta but it’s always been an aspiration to get over there as a family,” he said of their roots.
I think it was a package deal, they wanted him so they had to take me
Peter Cronin on the selection of him and brother Jesse
“I’ve got a 12-week-old boy and representing Malta is something I can look back on with him.”
The experienced prop admitted he thought the chance to play with Jesse had passed them both.
“I think it’ll make me nervous. I’m the older brother and I’ve always protected him,” he said of the occasion, before adding with a laugh: “Hopefully no one niggles him out there”.
After playing in age grade representative sides for the Knights, Peter confessed he thought his own representative career was behind him before the Malta call-up.
News of his selection came as a shock, the 28-year-old said. Though he’d had some discussions with the Malta coach, he wasn’t 100 per cent sure of his selection until the team sheet for the South Africa test was released.
“I woke up to a heap of messages on my phone from the boys,” he said.
He doesn’t know what to expect from the South African side, but assumed there’d be some big cattle judging by their rugby union teams.
While not getting ahead of himself, he said selection in a minnow team like Malta could lead to exciting opportunities – such as the situation of former Kurri teammate Mark Kheirallah, who played for France against Australia in last year’s Rugby League World Cup.
“I don’t think Malta is at the same level as France yet, but there’s some good players (in the Malta team),” he said of the team. “A lot of them are from NSW Cup level so there’s some good footy players there.”
https://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/...first-ever-game-together-in-malta-test-match/
