NRL considering US development arm for NFL rejects

[Copa]

This is interesting… I’m not sure they’d have the technical playing skills but I’m happy to be proven wrong.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/thered-be-enormous-interest-vlandys-reveals-bold-plan-to-lure-wasted-nfl-hopefuls-to-nrl/news-story/cb91399be72beeb13f4eabf376d2892b

[Damien]

I think it's always good to widen the playing pool that you recruit from but this to me just sounds like typical V'landys and him trying to make the NRL relevant in the US.

[Man of Kent]

Maybe they could get Brian Noble to host a reality TV show. 

[Copa]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

I think it's always good to widen the playing pool that you recruit from but this to me just sounds like typical V'landys and him trying to make the NRL relevant in the US.

That’s exactly what it is supposed to sound like because that’s what it is.

Best of luck to them I say.

[DACS]

We've been down this road before in some ways. NFL players are incredible athletes, but they train for an explosive sport, where stamina and fatigue barely exist. If you really want to target the US/Canada why not look to the existing rugby competitions (or even RL if there are nay worth anything)? You're far more likely to find someone with a compatible skill/conditioning base there.

[Alan Robertson]

The basketball analogy is absolutely ridiculous.

However, I imagine that plenty of 'NFL rejects' have the potential to play in some of rugby league's less technical positions.

[Sports Prophet]

V’landys announcing aims for a 20 team NRL and aim for an academy for lost Gridiron talent sounds like two very off the cuff updates to get a few headlines.

USA academy, I will believe it when I see it.

[Copa]

AFL did something similar in 2014 and picked up US basketball player Mason Cox who has now played over 90 games for Collingwood. Some athletes are just super adaptable.

[GUBRATS]

35 minutes ago, Copa said:

AFL did something similar in 2014 and picked up US basketball player Mason Cox who has now played over 90 games for Collingwood. Some athletes are just super adaptable.

How tall was this bloke ? 

As I recall it helps being tall in Aussie Rules  

Just looked , he's an inch short of 7 foot tall , the tallest player ever to play the sport apparently , so not really a good example 

Edited March 13, 2023 by GUBRATS

[GUBRATS]

Complete nonsense , you might just get a running back convert to a winger as long as you're not bothered how many try's will get scored against him ?  

Said it back in the day and it still applies now , Dessie D would have made a brilliant running back in Gridiron , small , fast , elusive , tough , able to block when needed 

RIP Dessie top man 

[fighting irish]

I wish they'd establish an office over there and assist the existing leagues to unite and form a decent comp.

Just cherry-picking a few ''recruits'' who might make it in the NRL seems such a narrow minded outlook.

I reckon there would be literally hundreds of ex-American football players of varying class, who would love to play RL if the competition had some credibility. 

A competitive USA team wouldn't half give the game a boost in the Northern Hemisphere and liven up our next World Cup.  

[Copa]

58 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

How tall was this bloke ? 

As I recall it helps being tall in Aussie Rules  

Just looked , he's an inch short of 7 foot tall , the tallest player ever to play the sport apparently , so not really a good example 

Mason Cox is a guy that played in a state championship soccer team in high school, played basketball to a decent level and then switched to AFL.

The point is they have so many highly trained elite athletes that even if a small minority of them have the potential to change sports, that’s still a very large number of potential athletes.

I suspect many won’t have the technical skills but I’m happy to sit back and see what the experts come up with.

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Copa

[GUBRATS]

46 minutes ago, Copa said:

Mason Cox is a guy that played in a state championship soccer team in high school, played basketball to a decent level and then switched to AFL.

The point is they have so many highly trained elite athletes that even if a small minority of them have the potential to change sports, that’s still a very large number of potential athletes.

I suspect many won’t have the technical skills but I’m happy to sit back and see what the experts come up with.

 

Then fine , do what Fighting Irish suggested above and give them a real game to play 

In America 

[lucky 7]

11 hours ago, Damien said:

I think it's always good to widen the playing pool that you recruit from but this to me just sounds like typical V'landys and him trying to make the NRL relevant in the US.

Probably and getting the NRL column inches the US.

[Copa]

16 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Then fine , do what Fighting Irish suggested above and give them a real game to play 

In America 

Why? It’s about potential playing talent for the NRL and the possibility of increasing its profile.

It seems to be about identifying elite athletes with a unique set of potentially transferable skills.

If they have potential put them into the Australian systems where they have access to elite coaches and experienced rugby league players.

I don’t understand the negativity to the NRL wanting to just have a crack and see what happens. If it all turns into something rubbish, they can then learn from it.

 

[fighting irish]

1 hour ago, Copa said:

Why? It’s about potential playing talent for the NRL and the possibility of increasing its profile.

It seems to be about identifying elite athletes with a unique set of potentially transferable skills.

If they have potential put them into the Australian systems where they have access to elite coaches and experienced rugby league players.

I don’t understand the negativity to the NRL wanting to just have a crack and see what happens. If it all turns into something rubbish, they can then learn from it.

 

I'm not saying they shouldn't do as you suggest, I say go for it and I will cheer them on.

What I'm calling for is a little more imagination, with a much bigger goal to aim at and if I may say so, with an enormous potential reward for the game as a whole, if they/we can move it in that direction.

 

[Dunbar]

7 hours ago, DACS said:

We've been down this road before in some ways. NFL players are incredible athletes, but they train for an explosive sport, where stamina and fatigue barely exist. If you really want to target the US/Canada why not look to the existing rugby competitions (or even RL if there are nay worth anything)? You're far more likely to find someone with a compatible skill/conditioning base there.

There is a legitimate argument to say that players not being taught the technicalities of the League code through their formative years will hold back ex NFL players - but the conditioning is not really an issue.

Take a talented natural athlete and put them through the appropriate conditioning programme blending speed, strength and stamina and you will get what you want.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Dunbar

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, Copa said:

Why? It’s about potential playing talent for the NRL and the possibility of increasing its profile.

It seems to be about identifying elite athletes with a unique set of potentially transferable skills.

If they have potential put them into the Australian systems where they have access to elite coaches and experienced rugby league players.

I don’t understand the negativity to the NRL wanting to just have a crack and see what happens. If it all turns into something rubbish, they can then learn from it.

 

A whole load of effort to produce a handful of potential players they don't need , a more altruistic approach would be to do something to try to expand the SPORT IN the US , but that isn't how the Aussie mindset works 

[GUBRATS]

There is a lot more to being a top RL player than athleticism 

[Dunbar]

2 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

There is a lot more to being a top RL player than athleticism 

This is very true.

But I think what clubs and coaches will look at is how to create great Rugby League players from natural athletes.

I was thinking this at the weekend watching Dom Young play for the Knights and knowing that the Roosters have secured him for a 4 year contract.  Yes, he is raw and there are parts of his game that definitely need improving but he is an unbelievable athlete - 6'7" and one of the fastest players in the NRL.  You can improve someone's positional play and coach better skills but you cannot turn someone into a better athlete... yes of of course you can make any player faster or stronger with conditioning but you are not turning someone into a 6' 7" flyer unless they are naturally a 6' 7" flyer.

It is why coaches are looking to identify natural athleticism as early as possible and those that clearly show this (Joseph Sua'ali'i, Young etc.) are in such high demand.

Of course, in the halves and 1 / 9 positions then this may not be the case as much but there are plenty of positions on a Rugby League pitch where natural athleticism, size or strength is really the starting point.

(I am not saying this is a good or bad thing, just describing what I see as the situation in modern RL). 

[GUBRATS]

1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

This is very true.

But I think what clubs and coaches will look at is how to create great Rugby League players from natural athletes.

I was thinking this at the weekend watching Dom Young play for the Knights and knowing that the Roosters have secured him for a 4 year contract.  Yes, he is raw and there are parts of his game that definitely need improving but he is an unbelievable athlete - 6'7" and one of the fastest players in the NRL.  You can improve someone's positional play and coach better skills but you cannot turn someone into a better athlete... yes of of course you can make any player faster or stronger with conditioning but you are not turning someone into a 6' 7" flyer unless they are naturally a 6' 7" flyer.

It is why coaches are looking to identify natural athleticism as early as possible and those that clearly show this (Joseph Sua'ali'i, Young etc.) are in such high demand.

Of course, in the halves and 1 / 9 positions then this may not be the case as much but there are plenty of positions on a Rugby League pitch where natural athleticism, size or strength is really the starting point.

(I am not saying this is a good or bad thing, just describing what I see as the situation in modern RL). 

Seen all this at junior level , only teaching certain sizes of kid skills for certain positions on the pitch , only for some to grow later and others to not grow any bigger , RL for me as a kid 11/12 was easy as I was quite tall and stocky without being fat , as an adult returning to my home town 8/9 years later many of my former teammates from school had caught me up and some had passed me size wise 

But at what age are we talking about in this discussion ? , If it's post college they're well into their 20s 

[Dunbar]

7 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Seen all this at junior level , only teaching certain sizes of kid skills for certain positions on the pitch , only for some to grow later and others to not grow any bigger , RL for me as a kid 11/12 was easy as I was quite tall and stocky without being fat , as an adult returning to my home town 8/9 years later many of my former teammates from school had caught me up and some had passed me size wise 

But at what age are we talking about in this discussion ? , If it's post college they're well into their 20s 

I'm not talking about the biggest kids at 11, 12 or 13.  I am talking about those 17/18/19 year olds who are clearly going to be the biggest, fastest most natural athletes in their positions.  It is why I used Young and Joseph Sua'ali'i as my examples because they are, you know, the examples of what I am talking about.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Dunbar

[Damien]

This discussion isn't really about kids that are 11 or 12 or teens. It's about kids that fail to make the grade in the NFL. Therefore you are talking about players either 20 and who are 3 years removed from high school or those leaving college at 21 and 22. No college player is going to entertain such an idea until they've finished their scholarship and not been drafted.

I certainly think it is possible that some could make the grade and the example of Dom Young is probably a good one. Any athlete with that size and speed with basic sporting ability, catch, tackle, evade etc is bound to stand a chance on the wing. I do think wing is the prime position for such athletes and I'm much more sceptical when it comes to other positions because of either skill or conditioning differences. I actually think other sports, such as Basketball and GAA, are much closer in terms of skills and conditioning than the NFL.

As a sport our playing pool isn't large enough not to consider attracting those from other sports that maybe can add something. 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Damien

[GUBRATS]

47 minutes ago, Damien said:

This discussion isn't really about kids that are 11 or 12 or teens. It's about kids that fail to make the grade in the NFL. Therefore you are talking about players either 20 and who are 3 years removed from high school or those leaving college at 21 and 22. No college player is going to entertain such an idea until they've finished their scholarship and not been drafted.

I certainly think it is possible that some could make the grade and the example of Dom Young is probably a good one. Any athlete with that size and speed with basic sporting ability, catch, tackle, evade etc is bound to stand a chance on the wing. I do think wing is the prime position for such athletes and I'm much more sceptical when it comes to other positions because of either skill or conditioning differences. I actually think other sports, such as Basketball and GAA, are much closer in terms of skills and conditioning than the NFL.

As a sport our playing pool isn't large enough not to consider attracting those from other sports that maybe can add something. 

Increase our playing pool , and spread out talent instead of condensing it at ' super ' community clubs 

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

I'm not talking about the biggest kids at 11, 12 or 13.  I am talking about those 17/18/19 year olds who are clearly going to be the biggest, fastest most natural athletes in their positions.  It is why I used Joseph Sua'ali'i as my examples because they are, you know, the examples of what I am talking about.

As Damien has put it won't be 17/18/19 , it'll be 22