Maltese Rugby League's first nomination at it's national sporting awards returned a resounding success when Malta international Gary Hili was named as the Gozo Sportsperson of the Year at L-Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali awards during a ceremony at the Le Meridien Hotel in St Julians, Malta.

The 21-year-old from Nadur took up Rugby League when he joined Gozo RL in 2011, months later was fast tracked into the Malta national squad where he made his debut against Norway later that summer.

Gozo is the second biggest of the Maltese islands and the Gozo RL team play in the Maltese championship against the three Malta based clubs.

Previously, the University of Malta student, who is completing a Masters in Digital Games, played football and was in the Nadur Youngsters first team by the age of 17.

L-Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali, organised by the Għaqda Ġurnalisti Sport (GħĠS) and sponsored by U*Bet, are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards in Maltese sport.

The 2013 Gozo RL Back of the Year, who beat a host of other nominations from across different sports, thanked those closest to him when accepting the award.

“First I’d like to thank my family, friends and team mates for their support. Thank you also to my coaches for always pushing me to do my best” said Hili.

“It’s great to see different sports being recognised in Gozo and so I’d like to also congratulate the Gozo NGO’s Association for their initiative in promoting Gozitan sports”

The Gozo NGO’s Association has for the past few months been working to promote sports in Gozo as part of its work as an umbrella of Gozitan organisations.

Meanwhile in Australia at the weekend, the MRL's Australian arm was in action when the Maltese Heritage team entered the Cabramatta International Nines.

Teams representing Canada, Portugal, Thailand and the Philippines were among 30 entries for the one day tournament.

The Maltese team, led by co-captains Aaron Weston and former Malta international Matt Mizzi, topped its group before suffering a heartbreaking four point loss to the Indigenous Australia team who would go on and almost win the tournament.

The Maltese Heritage team forms a pathway for Australia based players to be selected for the Malta national team and at the tournament featured three former Malta internationals including one who lived in Malta and played his first Rugby League in Malta as a 15-year-old.

The top try scorers for the Maltese were Wentworthville's Shaun Gambin and Tweed Head Seagulls' Nathan Portelli with three tries a piece.

Malta officials said it was the unearthing of a number of new players that shone for the MRL along with a 22-4 defeat in their second match of the day against Thailand that was the highlight of the tournament.

Still in Australia, Malta eligible Andrew Heffernan, set to be Maltese Rugby League's next NRL player, was named by the Canberra Raiders for the Auckland Nines on January 15-16.Heffernan commented: "It's a real honour to be chosen in the squad. It's been a long pre-season and it was one of my goals and I'm looking forward to playing in the first Auckland Nines against some of the best players in the world"

In England, Malta international Jonathan Magrin made his first team debut for the London Broncos away to Catalan Dragons on January 25. The 19-year-old back rower was then again called up most recently on Friday night when the Broncos took on Leeds Rhinos.

Magrin was given his national team debut by coach Anthony Micallef in 2012 when the Maltese travelled to Copenhagen for the Dove Men+Care International Series tie against Denmark.