The other three will hit the training field from Monday but arenโt expected to use the Raiders facility.
โI think the club was unreal in the fact that they got us over a little earlier, just for us to experience Vegas,โ OโSullivan said.
โItโs a lot of boysโ first time travelling overseas, let alone in Vegas. As a group, just to go out and experience new things โฆ the club has been first class in what theyโve done for us.โ
Also on hand for Canterburyโs session were Bulldogs general manager of football Phil Gould and chairman Adam Driussi, the co-founder of data science and artificial intelligence company Quantium.
The NRL has prioritised building ties with the NFL franchise since first embarking on the Las Vegas venture and strengthened relations last year when the Raiders signed Brisbane 21-year-old Laki Tasi as a free agent and conducted a youth development clinic in the Queensland capital.
Tasi, who weighs in at 169kg and standing at 198cm, played junior rugby league and in Brisbaneโs GPS rugby union school competition before joining the NFLโs international player pathway program as an offensive lineman.
The NFL team opened their training hub including an indoor field in 2020.Credit: AP
His older brothers have both played in the NRL. Lama Tasi was a forward for the Sydney Roosters and Brisbane Broncos, while Tautalatasi Tasi made two appearances for South Sydney in 2016 before moving to Super Rugby with the Melbourne Rebels and NSW Waratahs and playing abroad, most recently in the US.
In a further link to rugby league and to the Bulldogs, the Tasisโ cousin is former Canterbury captain Raymond Faitala-Mariner.
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While they were in Brisbane last year, Raiders officials were treated to seats at the first game of the State of Origin series at Suncorp Stadium. โIt was incredible,โ said the teamโs director of football development, Myles Hayes.
Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan will also speak at an NRL-organised business of sport conference here on Friday.
John Vellis, the NRLโs general manager of US expansion, said rugby league had been welcomed with open arms by the NFL team.
โFor us to come to Vegas, you really need to have friends like the Raiders,โ he said.
