The jury is still out on what Australian rugby league will gain from the NRL's Las Vegas experiment, but a former Raider leading the game in the USA believes it will make a huge impact stateside.
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While the Roosters, Sea Eagles, Broncos and Rabbitohs players are having a grand old time in Sin City ahead of the round one double-header on Sunday, back in Australia the other 13 NRL clubs and their fans might be scratching their heads at what exactly they get out of the Vegas spectacular.
It's a different story for rugby league in America, though.
USA Hawks rugby league coach Sean Rutgerson, a former Canberra Raiders forward that played 56 games in green between 2000-2003, said the venture into Vegas, including all the associated events around the double-header, would be invaluable to the cash-strapped game in the States.
"I'm excited because we've got an opportunity to play against Canada for world ranking points as part of the NRL visit, and we don't get too many games just because of the cost involved," Rutgerson told The Canberra Times.
"So I'm really looking forward to it, but I've also got to make sure our players are switched on and not go out there for a party.
"Bringing the NRL teams over, I'm just hoping that our players, coaches and admin staff get a chance to be around NRL people so they can learn.
"We need help here - we need coaching help, refereeing help, we need the players to understand the fitness levels and skills required, and we're severely lacking in all that just because we don't have any money.
"I'm the US head coach, but I can't go anywhere because I can't afford to fly anywhere."
After finishing up his career in the NRL, Rutgerson had a stint in the UK at Salford until 2006.
Three years later he moved to Florida to play and coach the Jacksonville Axemen, and that's where he's been ever since, taking over the role as head coach of the national team in 2018.
"We're just trying to develop the sport here, because most people don't understand that there's even a difference between rugby union and rugby league, and they don't know that there is rugby league here," he said
"We've got about four or five teams in Utah, same with California and here in in Florida, and we've also got teams up in the north-east as well.
"Hopefully the NRL's Las Vegas trip will help us to advertise to the American people that there is actually a comp that's been going for 15 years here, and we've got no money and no sponsors, so it'd be good to get a bit of help."
Along with the rare international fixture between the Hawks and Canada before the two NRL games, Vegas will also host a nines rugby league festival and a rugby league talent combine.
Despite being far from a world-beating rugby league nation yet, Rutgerson is adamant there is potential for the game to succeed in the US.
"We've got enough people here, so if we get a few more playing the sport, we're definitely a chance," he said.
"We've had two guys so far that have played professionally with the Wolfpack, Ryan Burrows, and Joe Eichner was in Australia playing Queensland Cup at the feeder team for Cowboys.
"It's just hard because players don't usually start in the sport until they're in their 20s and they finish college. So we've got to teach them from scratch how to play the ball and how to pass and tackle."
AT A GLANCE
Test match
USA v Canada, Saturday 2pm (AEDT) at Valley High School in Las Vegas
NRL Round 1
Manly Sea Eagles v South Sydney Rabbitohs, Sunday 1.30pm at Las Vegas
Sydney Roosters v Brisbane Broncos, Sunday 3.30pm at Las Vegas
Newcastle Knights v Canberra Raiders, Thursday, March 7, 8pm at Newcastle