Following an exceptional stint in the UK with Lebanon during the Rugby League World Cup at the close of 2022, Mansour expressed his willingness to move to Super League with his girlfriend. However, the 33-year-old’s wife unexpectedly revealed she was expecting their kid, putting any plans to relocate across the globe in jeopardy.
The only option was to go overseas but my wife fell pregnant the day before I was going to jump on a flight over there,” Mansour told James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast.
“I then decided I wasn’t going to go overseas, I was going to make a selfless decision and put my family first. It was something I had never done before and it’s very hard to do so with our careers.”
Mansour ended up playing one final season of rugby league with Newtown Jets, where he rediscovered his love for the sport.
“I used to play footy around there and I thought ‘maybe this is the way I will finish’. If it was the end there, I would have been content.
“So I went out there and had my final year in rugby league with the mighty Jets.”
Mansour has now retired after registering almost 200 NRL appearances – with over 150 of those coming with Penrith Panthers between 2012 and 2020.
“With Newtown, I had a bit of a connection there as it was a historical club and one of the foundation sides. I grew up around Melwood where they play.
The only alternative was to travel abroad, but the day before I was scheduled to board a plane, my wife became pregnant,” Mansour said on James Graham’s podcast, The Bye Round. “I then made the noble decision to prioritise my family over myself and opted not to travel overseas. It was something I had never done before, and changing careers is really difficult. Mansour ultimately participated in one last rugby league season with the Newtown Jets, where he rediscovers his passion for the game. Since Newtown was a historical club and one of the founding sides, I felt a little bit of a connection there. They play near Melwood, which is where I grew up.
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