The full extent of the challenge before Valentine Holmes as he chases NFL glory

IN Australia, Valentine Holmes is one of the best athletes in the country. In America he’s far more typical and that’s why he faces such a challenge to make it in the NFL writes PETER BADEL.

Valentine Holmes (centre) of the Maroons in action during Game 3 of the 2018 State of Origin series between the NSW Blues and the Queensland Maroons at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Wednesday, July 11, 2018. (AAP Image/Darren England) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

• COMMENT: Have you lost your mind Val?

• CASH: What Holmes is giving up

CAN Valentine Holmes truly crack it in the NFL?

If the assessments of NFL scouts are any reliable barometer, the Queensland Origin ace could be back at the Cronulla Sharks as quickly as he departs.

Holmes should be applauded for his ambition and bravery in walking away from a $4 million NRL contract to roll the dice in a foreign sport in America, but the journey ahead is akin to climbing Everest.

When Holmes and Cowboys star Jason Taumalolo flew to Los Angeles two years ago for an NFL workout in front of the sport’s top scouts, The Courier-Mail was the only Australian media outlet on American soil watching the trial.

And the feedback from NFL scouts was as chilling then as it now as Holmes braces for the toughest test of his sporting career.

Holmes is taking on a massive challenge. AAP Image/Darren England.

Valentine may be special in the NRL ... but in America, he is a dime-a-dozen athlete in a country boasting a population of 327 million.

After watching Holmes and Taumalolo complete a two-hour workout at Loyola High School on November 26, 2016, I turned to one of the scouts and asked if the pair were any hope of making the NFL.

“That bigger guy (Taumalolo), he is a physical specimen,” the scout replied.

“I was seriously impressed with him. There aren’t many guys that big who can move across the ground so quickly, so he has the potential to play in the NFL.”

And what of Holmes?

“The smaller guy,” said the scout, choosing his words politely and carefully.

“Look, he seems like a pretty good athlete, but we already have thousands of guys here who are as big as him ... and run faster.”

Adam Thielen is one of the top slot receivers in football.

That is the challenge facing Holmes. He will go from a big fish in a small pond to a tiny, unknown species in the cavernous NFL ocean that can swallow him whole and spit him out at any given moment.

When Holmes was measured by NFL scouts, he was largely unremarkable at 183cm and 88kg.

He is eyeing two positions – punt returner or slot receiver. The latter position sits inside the wide receiver (a bit like a centre inside the winger in rugby league terms) and is used to charge through defences in the midfield, something Holmes did expertly at fullback for the Sharks this year.

Holmes is facing quite a mountain. Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

One of the NFL’s shortest slot receivers, Philadelphia’s Darren Sproles, weighs 84kg and stands 168cm – one inch taller than Broncos legend Allan Langer.

So on the score of size, Holmes is not too small for the NFL. But whether he has the blistering speed, work ethic and emotional intelligence to read playbooks as thick as the Britannica is the million-dollar question.

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