Davisโ point was about the upside of being on American screens more regularly.
Who knows if Davis will be keen to scout more players, but he was quick to admit: โI tell you what, they are tough enoughโ.
The Raiders have already brought one Australian to Las Vegas โ the giant Laki Tasi, a 21-year-old who grew up playing rugby league and rugby union in Brisbane before coming onto the NFLโs radar.
Las Vegas Raiders recruit Laki Tasi.Credit: Getty Images
โHeโs doing good,โ Davis said of Tasi, who was signed to the teamโs practice squad last year and is yet to play in the NFL. โHeโs got to learn how to play, but what a big, big, big body specimen, man. Heโs something else. We love him.โ
Saints come marching into town
A poster at the Ole Red bar on the Las Vegas StripCredit: St George Illawarra Dragons
The Dragons had dinner at the appropriately named Ole Red live music bar in Las Vegas after flying in on the weekend.
They have made the venue, across from the Strip from the Bellagio, their fan hub for the whole week โ with Dragons flags displayed outside and every staff member wearing a St George Illawarra shirt. Even the lifts inside the venue feature photos of Red V fullback Clint Gutherson.
Expect their very own โyoung redโ, Dylan Egan, to do his share of media commitments in town this week.
Clubs that have come to Las Vegas in the past two years have welcomed supporters to venues for one-off fan nights, but the Dragons have gone all out by taking over Ole Red for the whole week.
Margot Robbie at Tropfest on Sunday.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
PVL goes Troppo
A day before he spruiked record revenue for rugby league, another passion project of ARL Commission chairman Peter Vโlandys bore fruit when short film festival Tropfest finally returned to Sydney for the first time in seven years.
Vโlandysโ passion for supporting the local film industry is not well known by league fans. Fewer still will be aware he once played a banker in a miniseries about disgraced businessman Alan Bond.
โI tell people I had a role in Bond,โ Vโlandys said. โIโm on the board of Tropfest, and it was great to see it back on the weekend. They had more than 30,000 people there.
โSarah Murdoch, [actor] Bryan Brown, [advertising guru] Richard Weinstein, John Polson, who founded Tropfest, and myself realised there was a need for pathways for young Australian film-makers, similar to how we have pathways in rugby league. Together, we all brought Tropfest back to help discover our local talent.โ
Vegas, Abu Dhabi to host openers
Still on Vโlandys, the five clubs yet to travel to Vegas โ Wests Tigers, Parramatta, Melbourne, Gold Coast and the Dolphins โ remain the front-runners for next yearโs edition, he said, despite a push for NRL games to be played elsewhere abroad in the opening round.
We told you on Monday the Tigers would have officials in Vegas to assess whether the club should nominate the for 2027 season opener. Recruitment boss Shannon Gallant was on the Qantas flight out of Sydney late Sunday.
Vโlandys has already spoken about taking round one games to London, Japan and even Hong Kong. But cop the tip: Abu Dhabi is the early favourite.
US government backs NRL push
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The president himself may not be coming, but there will be at least one member of the Trump administration in Las Vegas for the NRL this week.
Sarah B Rogers, the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, will deliver the closing speech at the NRLโs business of sport conference on Friday. Her topic is the cultural value of sport in connecting nations, as well as US priorities.
The speakers at the conference include Las Vegas Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan, Brisbane 2032 Olympics president Andrew Liveris and Marc Badain, the president of Major League Baseballโs Athletics, who are shifting from California to Las Vegas in 2028.
Others on the list are Angela Ellisk the vice-president of original content and entertainment at NFL Media, and Stacy Sonnenberg, the head of global sports finance at investment banking giant Goldman Sachs.
