Trent Merrin has declared James Tamous shock axing from the Australian team a win for Penrith.Merrin is attempting to re-establish himself as a representative regular during Australias Four Nations campaign.But Tamous future on the scene is up in the air after he was overlooked for coach Mal Meningas 24-man squad.North Queensland premiership winner Tamou will join Merrin at the Panthers next year on a four-year deal.And Merrin believes his omission from the Kangaroos squad after playing in the mid-year Test in Newcastle, will provide Tamou with plenty of motivation.I know as well as anyone what it is like to miss out on something. I know Jimmy will take this personally and it will fuel him up for next year, Merrin said.I know him well and this will really hurt him. He loves testing himself, proving himself and he will definitely be up for next year.It is going to be great for the Panthers that Jimmy will have that motivation.He will definitely be putting himself back in the position for rep selection next year. That is a great thing for the club.Tamou was passed over when Meningas squad was initially named earlier this month, with Canberra prop Shannon Boyd the bolter.The 27-year-old Tamou couldnt even get a look in when Josh Papalii was ruled out with an ankle injury and Jake Trbojevic was called up.Merrin missed out on NSW selection this year after joining the Panthers from St George Illawarra.He was a key figure in their charge to the semi-finals.Tamous addition to Penriths already big pack ensure it will be one of the best in the NRL in 2017.I am really excited about Jimmy coming over. He is a tough man and he plays the game tough, Merrin said.The best thing about it is he has played at the highest level in the game for a long time now and he is going to bring that over to the boys.He will be a mature head around the place. He is part of the culture that we are looking for in the future.Merrin recently re-signed with Penrith alongside Tyrone Peachey, Matt Moylan and Bryce Cartright to ensure the Panthers have a talent-filled roster next year.It is a fantastic culture that we are building at the club, Merrin said.We all took a lot of confidence out of this year.It is great to have the same playing group together for the next few yearsThere are great things to come. Cheap Saints Jerseys . Mitch Holmberg added a goal and three assists. Connor Chartier also scored for the Chiefs (3-0-0). Luke Harrison spoiled Garrett Hughsons shutout bid with a power-play goal at 13:17 of the third period. 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The moment you walk into the Global Martial Arts gym in western Sydney, Australia, youre greeted by London 2012 memorabilia and a wall that reads Home of the Olympians.The gym is full of kids this particular Tuesday night, boys and girls of all ages unleashing fly kicks with the obligatory sound effects before they fall to a hush and hang on every word of Master Ali.Among them is Australian taekwondo competitor Safwan Khalil. Just a handful of weeks out from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Khalil could be tucked away in his own special corner with an entire training entourage tracking his every kick, punch and block. Yet here he is, mentoring taekwondos next generation.I love it. I love being around, I love being able to give back, Khalil, 30, tells ESPN. Ive been in this sport for a long time, and hopefully after the Olympic Games I can come away with a good result, or regardless, if I dont, I still want to come back and give back.You came in and you saw only the older kids, but there are so many young ones here training who want to be Olympians and aspire to be so much better than what they are now. I just love giving back to them, the young ones and the older ones; its a really good feeling.Khalils Olympic story doesnt subscribe to the typical Australian narrative. He came away from the 2012 London Olympic Games in fourth place after a disappointing bronze-medal match, but the depth of his disappointment is probably lost on everyone but his family and those who come to sweat it out at his Hoxton Park training facility in western Sydney.Thats just the way he likes it, and its really the only support hes ever known. Little wonder, too, since his childhood years were spent adjusting to life in Australia after his family fled Lebanon amid the countrys instability.[It was] extremely tough, Khalil says. As I get older now I do like to find about our history with the family. And my mum, you know she tears up every time she tells me the story because my dad actually ran off without us at the start to actually build up some money.So we were actually all alone while my mum was pregnant with me; my father was actually here in Australia trying to build some money and establish himself here and my mum was alone [in Lebanon] with the three kids about to give birth to me.I remember my mum telling me, my uncle actually called my father and said, You need to get your kids out of here, its crazy, and he could hear gunshots and so on happening. So you know he had to scrape every piece of coin he could get together and get us out and, yeah, it was a really, really horrific moment of our life.There were no gunshots whizzing in Sydney, but Khalil, his parents, five brothers and one sister still endured some hairy moments.My brother actually burned our house down, Khalil says.I remember it like it was yesterday. I was on my little pink bike riding up and down the street and I remember riding and stopping in front of the house and a blaze going through the window, my sister running into the house. She says she slapped him and ran him out of the house because he lit the couch on fire with a lighter; and if you meet Sami [Samir] and you get to know his character you would be like, yeah, he would light anything on fire, its the way he is.My mum was out shopping on a bus because she didnt have a [drivers] licence, and [she] got off the bus and her house was literally on the ground.The Khalil brothers played all kinds of sports. But eventually the sibling rivalry reached a tipping point, and tired of her sons fly kicks from the family lounge, Khalils mother pointed her brood in the direction of the nearest gym.We grew up playing [rugby] league in the front yard, backyard cricket, and [then] taekwondo came about.You know, we grew up watchhing a lot of Jackie Chan, [Jean-Claude] Van Damme [movies] and all this sort of stuff, and my mum got sick of us bashing each other around the house; thats all we did.dddddddddddd We were doing fly kicks off the couch and she was fed up. My dad was working 16-hour days and my mum was trying to balance cooking, cleaning, the boys.So she found the nearest taekwondo school and said, Go bash some other kids, and we did. We went into our first competition and got to punch on with other kids, and we werent getting in trouble for it and I was in love. And ever since then I just havent looked back.These days, Khalil continues to punch on with one of his brothers -- Master Ali. Ali Khalil, 33, is known as Master Ali Khalil in a taekwondo environment. The duo travelled together to London as part of Australias taekwondo team, and will do the same thing in Rio.Ali has been by Safwans side throughout his taekwondo journey, making technique adjustments here and offering words of encouragement there. Its an athlete-coach relationship seldom found these days, yet it seems to work perfectly for the Khalil brothers -- the odd stern discussion aside.Its tough at times, Safwan tells ESPN of his unique training setup.Hes my older brother and Ive got all the respect for him, and as weve grown up, anything hes told me to do ... Ive bowed my head and I know Ill do it. But sometimes we disagree on things and we absolutely lose our [temper], especially during [the Islamic fast] Ramadan.Theres times when were both hungry, edgy [during Ramadan], and hell tell me something and Im like, No, I dont want to do it. But were that close and that strong that anything that happens in our relationship, give it 20 minutes and were back the way we were half-an-hour ago.Its got its blessings in a way because we get to work for each other, because anything he tells me to do is absolutely in my best interest and he knows me like a book. And I know everything he does for me is 100 percent for me and I trust him 100 percent, so its fantastic and I love it. Weve had to work at it a lot of the time, but now that were getting older and a lot more mature its easier for us.The extent of this family affair really hits home when you consider that Safwans partner, Carmen Marton, is one of Australias female taekwondo competitors in Rio.Khalil describes Marton as the strongest woman you will ever meet and says there is more than just a friendly rivalry between them even though they are 100 percent behind each other in their pursuit of gold.Motivated by a desire to right his London competition attitude that Khalil says resembled a sulking baby, there will be no sightseeing in Rio; nor will he be chasing Usain Bolt through the Olympic Village -- as he did in 2012.I think my priorities are a lot more set now, and I know what direction Im going in when I walk into Rio, he says.I walked into London this wide-eyed younger man just wanting to soak in the experience, rather than just focusing on what I need to do two minutes at a time. So Im definitely a lot wiser and just a lot more relaxed going into this competition.Whether or not those four years of added wisdom help push Khalil to a gold medal, its impossible not to admire his sporting journey.Taekwondo may be as far from the mainstream Australian sporting psyche as you can get, yet its little wonder, given the way Khalil talks about one-on-one combat, that his infectious attitude has rubbed off on a small but determined group of kids on a Tuesday night at Global Martial Arts. Its almost as if theyre one big family. Having spent a few minutes getting to know Khalil, that in no way is a surprise. ' ' '