KOTA KINABALU: Madzalan Emoi has stunned his own State by turning his back on the Rhinos, despite the fact that he has verbally agreed to don the Rhinos colours for the new season. Instead the lanky player is now heading South and looks set to sign for Super League outfit Johor FC. Madzalan could not be reached for comment, but the Rhinos team manager Rahman Zakaria when contacted said that it is very unlikely that Madzalan would play for the State for the new season.
“He has been missing training for the last two or three days. We believe that he has received offers elsewhere and from the information that we gathered, he is in Johor now,” Rahman said.
“It is a pity that he decided not to sign for the team, but it was his choice and there is nothing much we can do. “We have done our part. We knew he was looking for a new team, and we welcomed him for trials.
“He showed us during the last one or two weeks that he still had the desire to play for the State so we offered him a contract. “I can say that it was a good offer. We thought that he would sign for us considering that he is now at the end of his career. “So one of the reasons why we decided to offer him a contract is because when he decides to retire we may offer him something like what we have offered several of our players such as Khairul (Azman), Burhan (Ajui) and Henry (Soimpon),” said Rahman, referring to the trio who have now been given a coaching job with the State team.
But now it seems that this is going to be the end of his relationship with the team as his action certainly does more harm than good. The last two seasons, Madzalan donned Perlis colours, but was among those dropped by the Perlis FA for the new season. In a related development, Rahman said that they have also decided to offer a contract to a former KL Plus flanker only known as Hisamuddin. The stout player will be the seventh local import to strengthen the Rhinos after Chow Chee Wing, Ahmad Tharmini Saiban, Rezuan Muhammad Radzy, Munir Amran, Wong Sai Kong and Nafuzi Zain.
Meanwhile, Rahman also said that the head coach Drago Mamic, who has been doing great in preparing the team for the new season, is likely to parade the best squad when Sabah take on the Kota Belud Selection in a friendly on Sunday. The match will be played at the Kota Belud town field with the kick-off scheduled for 4.15pm.
