Rhodes Knights and Attica Rhinos will contest the Greek Rugby League Association Grand Final next month, with the Knights – undefeated for four years – clear favourites. At the completion of the four team home and away domestic league, run by the newly constituted GRLA for the first time in 2017, the islanders conceded only 16 points, scoring an average of 50 per game.

“All teams are becoming more competitive, the boys showed great passion and a keen willingness to play. That was the most positive aspect from the season,” said Rhodes coach Michalis Chatziioanou.

Newcomers Patra were the success story, registering a win against Aris and completing the 1,300km round trip to play in Rhodes, illustrating their enthusiasm and commitment.

Head coach Andreas Antonopoulos noted: “A fantastic season has come to an end!  We are satisfied with our performance and with every match we got better so third place is a successful outcome.  It was very exciting when we travelled down to Rhodes for an 8s tournament and for our first match of the full 13-a-side season.  We are looking forward to the future, hopefully some of our players will make the national team for the Balkan Cup in October.”

To support the demand for technical knowledge that will underpin further progress, the GRLA hosted a first-ever coaching course in Rhodes last week involving 13 participants. Next season the same four clubs will compete in the domestic league whilst the GRLA will seek to form women’s teams and it is anticipated that least two of the men’s clubs will participate in the 2018 Balkans Super League.