The Rocket
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Posts posted by The Rocket
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11 minutes ago, Dunbar said:
All this means that any success we have, the Union lot may well benefit from, as no-one over there currently knows the difference (we should do more of that in reverse).
That was my thoughts as well, but on a little reflection I think it probably doesn`t matter, if we can get Americans to tune into the game they will discover very quickly that a) this game is very different to the `rugby` that they have already seen, or b) for those who are ignorant of any `rugby` they just enjoy it (hopefully) for what it is. This can all be aided and abetted by of course the commentators during the coverage making sure that everyone knows they are watching Rugby LEAGUE.
Not dissimilar to Andrew Voss`s cry during the NRL Vegas promo "what a Rugby League try".
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14 hours ago, JDM said:
He did state 'Rugby League' in a response to one of the reporter's statements (about the 'tush push' move) but I think it'd be a pretty tough task to correct her politely and then have to explain what he means / the difference between the two in a 2-minute segment.
Perhaps Woodsy and the boys have been given the heads up.
On Monday, the Big Sell continued.
Having attended the Raiders-Vikings NFL match at Allegiant on Sunday afternoon, Roosters recruit Spencer Leniu, the Broncos’ Billy Walters, Manly’s Aaron Woods and Souths centre Campbell Graham walked the famous Vegas strip to pose for photos.
As was the case at Allegiant, local fans for whatever reason identified them as “rugby players”.
For his part, Woods wasn’t having a bar of it.
“No, we’re rugby league guys,” Woods informed them. “We tackle harder.”
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2 hours ago, EastLondonMike said:
Kiwi Union player signed for Wests today also - or announced today. Haven't heard of him but ex-Chiefs player now playing at the level below. Think he's a winger.
Solomon AlaimaloKiwi bloke on the Aussie League forum tells that he was a bit of a gun youngster many tipped to be an All-Black, mental health issues saw him take a couple of years away from the game, perhaps he`s looking for a fresh start and a bit of a change of scenery.
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5 hours ago, Big Picture said:
No it wouldn't have been.
The problem with the name Rugby League is that all it really means is rugby with leagues, because 100 or so years ago when the name came into use Union was the rugby without leagues. Thus there's never been anything in the name to convey the idea of it being a different sport clearly.
In a way they did try to correct her, referring to "a Rugby League 'scrum'" in reply to her question about that gridiron push play and rugby scrums. The distinction went right over her head, because when she hears Rugby League all that means to her is a league of rugby.
So if these matches do anything to boost interest in the US, RU is more likely to benefit from that than RL.
Couple of pages back you were doubting the ticket sales and saying Americans will have no interest in an "obscure" sport they`ve never heard of, now union is going to get any kudo`s if this Vegas thing comes off, I don`t know why you bother coming on here, man you`re a miserable negative piece of work.
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Interesting article from one of League`s harshest critic sometimes.
5 minLas Vegas: “The Black Hole” is the Las Vegas Raiders’ infamous group of hardcore fans who occupy the pocket near the tunnel and the end zone.
Since 1995, they have been the most notorious sub-section of the league’s most notorious fanbase, dressing up in menacing clobber and destroying visiting players and fans with venomous vitriol.
Spencer Leniu at Allegiant Stadium.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
But, on Sunday afternoon, rugby league melted their hearts. They had nothing but love for this strange game from a strange land and, in particular, Roosters weapon Spencer Leniu.
“Hey uce!” yelled one fan as Leniu walked by before the Raiders’ match against Minnesota Vikings. “I used to play rugby!” yelled another as Leniu posed for selfies and shook hands.
The NRL has rolled into Las Vegas this week to promote the season-opening double-header at Allegiant Stadium here in March.
Before, during and after the Raiders match, the NRL was given the type of publicity it cannot buy and will most certainly need if it’s to live the American Dream.
The double-header was publicised regularly on the big screen throughout the match while Leniu, Manly’s Aaron Woods, Souths’ Campbell Graham and the Broncos’ Billy Walters did interviews with US sports network Fox Sports before the match and at half-time.
Earlier, they had posed for a photo outside the stadium before kick-off, prompting one Raiders fan to poke his nose in and innocently ask, “Um, who are you people?”
When Leniu walked in front of the faithful, though, the Raiders faithful loved him - even if they weren’t entirely sure who he was.
“I think because I’m Polynesian and they were Polynesian they recognised me,” Leniu, who is of Samoan heritage and born in Auckland, explained.
Rugby league’s incursion into the US market is, to some, a pipedream. Yet ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo deserve credit for thinking so big.
Rugby league has toyed with playing games in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, but it amounted to nothing and was consigned to the too-hard basket.
The current NRL administration wants to dip its toe in the US wagering and broadcast markets and is taking a long-term view.
There has been speculation the whole exercise could cost the game $10 million – something V’landys and Abdo scoff at. “We’ll probably break even in the first year,” V’landys says.
Wisely, Abdo’s team has partnered with the Raiders, NFL, and NBA in putting the event together.
Before the match, he gave Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan a Kangaroos jumper and she gave him a Raiders jersey with his name on the back. He’ll need a few more squats if he’s to realise his lifelong dream of becoming a linebacker.
Spencer Leniu was a hit with the Las Vegas Raiders’ faithful.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
“The Raiders have been fantastic to work with,” Abdo said. “They haven’t seen us as the opposition at all – they’ve wanted to build a relationship. We have a long-term strategy around this fixture.”
Ticket sales are tracking well. Nearly 20,000 have been sold but Douglass Morgan has assured Abdo that Vegas is a city of walk-up starters to events. The NRL has privately set itself a target of 40,000 in a stadium that has a capacity of 65,000.
Standing on the field before the match, a couple of things struck me.
Concerns about fitting a rugby league configuration on an NFL ground aren’t as serious as some have suggested. The playing surface will be four metres narrower than it normally is, but the sidelines won’t be hard up against the fence line. Wingers won’t be sliding into walls chasing kicks into the corners.
There are fears about serious injuries because the match is being played on a foreign surface but there shouldn’t be: Allegiant Stadium’s field is all grass, not synthetic nor even partly synthetic.
“That’s a win,” Walters said, before adding cheekily: “I wouldn’t say it’s as good as Suncorp.”
Allegiant Stadium will host Super Bowl on February 11, giving the NRL three weeks for the surface to recover and painted logos to grow out.
“And if they haven’t, we’ll paint it green,” Abdo said.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
The roof — and, more specifically, the speakers hanging from the roof — feel much lower than when you are watching on TV or in the stands.
Minnesota punter Ryan Wright launched several towering spiral kicks during the warm-up, coming within metres of the speakers. It made you wonder what would happen if Matt Burton or Nathan Cleary played at this venue with their hellacious bombs that nudge the stratosphere.
“Adam Reynolds’ little legs couldn’t get the ball that high,” Walters said. “But Cleary and Burton could. That’s probably why the NRL hasn’t brought them over – they’ll get scouted [by NRL teams] straight away.”
Whether this wishful foray into the US market will be a success is the great unknown. The US is sport’s mecca. Walk into a sports bar here and people are glued to NBA, NFL, UFC, college sport, Major League Soccer — there doesn’t appear to be much room for anything else, even if the NRL seeks a toenail in the market.
But there wasn’t much love for the Raiders after they lost 3-0 in what keen NFL judges were calling “the worst game ever played”.
Wait until they see the greatest game of all, baby.
The author travelled to Las Vegas courtesy of the NRL.
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1 hour ago, Damien said:
The clip though does show the issues with trying to promote a sport with the name Rugby in it, particularly when people are just referring it to Rugby and leaving the League part out. To all intents and purposes that may as well be about RU.
Yeah I was disappointed that Woods or Graham didn`t pick the interviewer up on that, would have been so easy to politely correct her.
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10 hours ago, Gomersall said:
Why the * against Grossmey?
7 hours ago, NRLandSL said:He’s Australian
No need to be like that.
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1 hour ago, meast said:
Probably one for the mods I know but no harm in discussing it.
I know there's quite a few users based down under but it's mainly (in my eyes) a UK based forum.
But how come there's so many topics about the NRL and Australian/antipodean RL on the General forum when there's a sub forum for Australian RL?
club specific topics are moved to club specific forums so why not Australian?
There seems to be lots of interest in the Australian game judging by the amount of topics popping up.
I personally don't follow NRL or the Aussie game and wouldn't read any topics on the Australian forum, just find it bizarre that there's so many posts on a subject that has it's own sub forum.
I think you`ll find that most or at least many of the posters on here are of a vintage that makes them Rugby League fans first, perhaps specific competitions fans second. What discussing the NRL offers die-hard League fans is the one true shining light where the game does appear to be prospering, and fans want to share that good news, hence the continual references on the General Rugby League Forum.
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He`ll be on $450k per season at the Roosters, was on $600k per season with Australian union, and reportedly had a 3yr $1m per season offer from Japanese rugby union on the table.
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Nawaqanitawase claque la porte des Wallabies (rugbypass.com)
In this French article Nawaganitawase`s defection is described as being to the NRL and the Sydney Roosters, no initial mention of Rugby League at all.
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Union writer in today`s The Australian :
Mark Nawaqanitawase just start of NRL raid on rugby stars | The Australian
We can also reveal that it’s not only Australian players who are in the sights of league clubs.
New Zealand Super Rugby backrower Hugh Renton is in talks with St George Illawarra Dragons about a potential mid-season switch.
The 27-year-old, who plays for the Highlanders, is known for his aggressive style and if a deal is sorted, he’d be available for the Dragons after the Super season finishes in June.
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18 hours ago, Click said:
Tbf, it's an award for playing, what... 2/3 games?
Until the international game as a whole is respected more then awards relating to it won't be.
Is it, I can`t help but think that the players in questions contributions at club level would pay a part in the decision.
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He`s obviously left the door open for a return to union for the 2027 union world cup in Oz. Roosters will back themselves that when the time comes he won`t want to leave and will knock back union just like Penisini, Koula, Murray, Asofa-Solomona, Haas and Chrichton all have recently.
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2 hours ago, fighting irish said:
20,000 Aussies arriving in Las Vegas on the same weekend!
That's a lot of aeroplanes, isn't it? (gut feeling).
I don't know much about international air travel but that seems like a lot, to me. Especially if they are all travelling from one or two Australian airports.
Surely a good number of those tickets must have been bought by Americans?
I like the exclamation mark after " 20 000 Aussies ...on the same weekend" mate, it does sound like an awful lot at once but as someone else said that`ll be staggered over several days/weeks most likely.
Don`t know much about air travel myself Irish, never left the country and only been on a plane thrice, the first of those it never even left the ground, and that wasn`t because of me screaming " let me out of here, we`re all gonna die".
I googled it and it said there`s about 100 00k Australians living in the US, not a lot, yeah so I`m wondering too, who`s buying those tickets, maybe a few septics. LOL, do you have `septic tanks` in Pommy Land or do you call them something else, septic tanks that is.
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Update on ticket sales provided by @Yakstorm:
"Some pretty solid sales since Friday, especially on the middle tier. Updated numbers:
- Lower Bowl: 13,250 (Excluding middle bays)
- Middle Tier: 3,750
- Top Tier: 2,600
"Puts sales between 19,600 and 25,200 depending how many tickets have been sold in the 10 sideline bays."The question I want answered is, who is buying these tickets, I find it very hard to believe that 20 000 plus Aussies have already bought tickets to this event. Could we be already getting a bit of interest from the locals.
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46 minutes ago, Nate90 said:
How tedious is the off season?
Where can I get my Rugby League fix?
French Elite One is fantastic but is there anything else?
I gotta say mate I think we`re having the best off-season I can remember. Not a scandal in sight (
) and there almost seems to be a daily competition at the moment between the two papers I read every day about which one can break the latest story on either Las Vegas; 18th team; union`s woes; etc. etc. etc. Poor old fumbleball can`t seem to get a look in and even the stories they have seem so trivial. No mate it has been a ripping off-season for me so far.
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26 minutes ago, Dave T said:
I'm excited by this, and if I was younger with fewer commitments it's absolutely the kind of thing I'd fly over for.
But the media snippets are making me smile a little. I'm not sure we need to go over the top with claims of 65k and tens of millions of viewers. A crowd half that and a couple of hundred thousand of US tv viewers is more likely. And that would be a great start.
Yeah I`m excited and nervous about the whole thing, I think it will be a terrible look if the place is only half-full, but if what @Yakstormis reporting in the Aussie forums today (and he is very good with this stuff) that they are opening higher tiers and there has been good sales in those tiers immediately and a possibility of up to 23 000 tickets sold already, and that`s even before the official launch, is pretty promising.
A full or close to full house and the players will put on a better show and probably anyone that tunes in will stay tuned in.
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1 hour ago, Pulga said:
It would be so like the IRL though to give that absolute dumpster fire of an organisation a leg up while completely ignoring the rest of us.
I think IRL and NRL are probably interchangeable here. HST, if the NRL get any traction with the Vegas venture, they might seek to capitalise by fostering/promoting any sort of USA team by including them in our Pacific tournaments. I don`t know in that case if Hawaii could host some of the American`s games.
All fits in with America`s and Australia`s plan for increased engagement with the Pacific nations though, something I`m sure V`landys mentioned to Biden when they met recently.
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2 hours ago, Pulga said:
Good grief. They'd have to stabilise and beat Jamaica for a start.
Technicalities.
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11 minutes ago, gingerjon said:
The NRL are spending $40m per year on this. "Better than the Denver fiasco" shouldn't even be the minimum requirement. I am expecting an impressive show if nothing else.
There is not a snowball`s that V`landys will be spending $40m per year of NRL money on this, that is not his styles at all. In fact the figure being quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald was of around $9m per annum for the whole venture, and I expect that that the NRL will only be forking out a fraction of that.
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6 hours ago, Damien said:
Staring Tom Burgess as well Damien Cook and Alex Johnston:
Watch a lot of the Wiggles do you Damo.
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The Dolphins introducing the uninitiated.
Introducing new players to the game through League Tag has already been successful.
“We have been able to create some really good relationships with local leagues, schools and clubs within the Wide Bay region,” said Blair.
Our League Tag days are really popular for the sport for those looking at getting into the game, and it is usually the first steps for them.
“The idea was that we would put in a Dolphins League Tag to get people involved on Friday afternoons as part of their school sport.
“There were five schools involved and 24 teams across boys, girls and mixed teams and they played over five weeks.”
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4 hours ago, Damien said:
What a really bizarre response to my post. I honestly havent got a clue what are you talking about or what that has got to do with the RFL?
Surely you are aware of how shambolic the Tonga tour was and what a poor choice of venues there was and little attempt to make any of the matches into must see events. The RFL have to offer more, and certainly make it more attractive than what they put on for Tonga, or Samoa would be well within their rights to not tour.
Yes, I beg your pardon I may have got my RFL`s and ERL`s mixed up, but either way, Samoa tour next year, Ashes in Oz 2025, good prep for playing in Oz conditions for the following year`s WC and then inbound tours from OZ and NZ the following two years, sounds like a pretty damn good international calendar to me.
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6 hours ago, Damien said:
Hopefully the RFL learn their lesson and step up their offering.
That`s a really petty shot. Maybe the ERL will step up theirs. A couple of days ago you were saying the IRL has never been weaker than under Troy Grant, now we hear that he has convinced Samoa to reconsider touring next year for the sake of the development of Northern hemisphere Rugby League and given the paucity of viable options in your own backyard how important it is. Mate a little bit of credit where credits due wouldn`t go astray. Make it a ripping tour and maybe there will probably be plenty more.
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Vegas baby!!
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted · Edited by The Rocket
They`re really giving this the best possible chance you would think.
NRL Las Vegas: Andrew Abdo announces UFC partnership before 2024 season-opener double-header (smh.com.au)
Las Vegas: The NRL’s bold foray into the US market has taken a gigantic step forward with the announcement of a critical partnership with the UFC – the biggest sport in Las Vegas and among the biggest in the world.
While the first year of the deal will see the UFC share content and publicity opportunities with the NRL, it is envisaged a fight night will be held on the same weekend as rugby league in 2025.
It is a significant win for the NRL because the UFC has never partnered with another sport.
UFC chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein – who is considered one of Las Vegas’ most influential figures – said the UFC wanted to grow its audience in the Asia-Pacific region.
“We know we have a tremendous crossover for the two fan bases,” he said. “The sports have the same ethos: hard work, dedication, sportsmanship and unexpected things happen all the time. We couldn’t be more excited welcoming rugby league to Las Vegas.”
But the person who stole the show was retired UFC legend Forrest Griffin, whose gruesome fight in 2005 with Stephan Bonnar is considered “the most important fight in UFC history”, according to founder Dana White.
“It’s an easy game to understand – and this is a beautiful place to do it,” Griffin, 44, said. “I love the pace of the game. You think about it: they get 80 minutes done faster than you can in 60 minutes of American football. I was also interested to learn there are only four replacements? For the whole game? That’s crazy.”
Earlier, NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo made several key announcements about the event, which has attracted 20,000 ticket sales.
A partnership with NASCAR, which is being held in Vegas on the same weekend, has been struck.
A talent combine will be held at the Ed W. Clark High School earlier that day involving 15 male and 15 female college athletes. The top two will then trial with NRL clubs later in the year.
In another article UFC legend Forrest Griffin told how he had been watching a video of the NRL`s 100 greatest tackles and how he was loving it and that he thought how Americans would love the fact that they could see the faces of the players during the action, something of course they were unable to do because of the helmets worn in NFL. Interesting observation I thought.