7 hours ago
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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.
NRL star Josh Addo-Carr has been stitched up deluxe by the Parramatta Eels, who caught the flyer off-guard with a prank following the 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 (pictured)
Eventually Addo-Carr was informed the numbers were fabricated - and he was all smiles about the 'crazy' wind up (pictured)
'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.
