NRL Las Vegas: Broncos coach Kevin Walters won’t apply player curfews in Sin City
The bright lights of Las Vegas have brought down many a good man, but Kevin Walters will back his superstar Broncos squad to avoid the temptations of Sin City.
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Kevin Walters will not place curfews on the Broncos in Sin City as Brisbane prepares for a hit-and-run mission in the NRL’s historic Las Vegas season-opener.
It is just over a month until the Broncos depart Brisbane for the United States as part of the NRL’s vision to sell rugby league to America.
The Broncos were already facing a shortened pre-season after featuring in last year’s NRL grand final and they will lose more training time due to the logistically demanding Vegas expedition.
However Walters can only see positives in the Broncos being one of four teams to feature in the NRL’s first premiership venture to the States.
“It is a little bit (disruptive), but it’s only as hard as you make it,” he said.
“It is a shortened prep for us with how far we went last year in the season but the majority of this group have been together for three years now.
“We’re comfortable with where we’re at and Vegas is a great opportunity for us to gel as a squad.
“We’ll be away for 10 days as a group. At that time of the year, it’s a huge advantage for those teams.
“You take the travel out of it and we’re in camp for 10 days learning about each other and how we want to play this year.
“We’re going to embrace the opportunity to go to Vegas and play. I’ve been over there and had a look at the stadium and facilities we can use in LA and Vegas.
“We’ve got a very strong side here and we’ll need to play well. We’re going to embrace it and use it to our advantage.”
The Broncos will play their first NRL Pre-season Challenge trial against the Cowboys in Mackay on February 18 before the top team jets out of Brisbane on February 22 bound for Los Angeles.
They will spend a week in camp in LA, utilising the facilities of NFL franchise the LA Rams to finetune their preparations for the 2024 premiership launch.
The Broncos only fly to Vegas on Thursday, February 29, and will hold a captain’s run on March 1 before the March 2 match against the Roosters at Allegiant Stadium.
They will depart Vegas the following day to return to Brisbane, sitting out the following weekend’s NRL matches which will see the remaining six games of round 1 completed.
The players’ only genuine opportunity to experience the bright lights of Vegas will be after the match, but Walters isn’t concerned about the temptations getting the better of his team.
Although he will be steering clear of unofficial party liaison officer Allan Langer.
“We know curfews and bans don’t work,” Walters said.
“Some of our guys haven’t been to Vegas. Some of them have.
“We’re really going to embrace it. It’s a beautiful place, particularly the stadium we’re playing.
“I won’t be hanging around ‘Alf’ (Langer) in Vegas.”
The NRL has been working hard to market the Vegas double-header, which features the Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs in the first match, to Americans.
Broncos hooker Billy Walters travelled to Vegas before Christmas as Brisbane’s representative on a promotional tour.
He said the event was gaining traction, even if there was some confusion about the difference between rugby league and union.
“It is going to be a pretty cool experience,” Billy Walters said.
“The Americans, if they are open to it, I think they will love our game.
“I went to a couple of NFL games and it kind of drags on a bit.
“The NRL is very exciting, very skilful and very fast. I am assuming they are going to love that aspect about it.
“We were carrying the footy that we are going to be playing with and a lot of them knew it was rugby straight away. Even some people in Australia, it can be hard to explain to them the difference between rugby league and rugby union.
“You kind of had to give them a break. As long as they knew the concept and were getting excited about it, that’s all that matters. As long as they get bums on seats, that’s what we’re there for.
“I’m sure once they watch it once they’ll be calling it rugby league for the rest of their lives.
“Hopefully they turn out a big crowd and we put on a good game.”
The Vegas game will be Brisbane’s first premiership match since last year’s heartbreaking grand final loss to Penrith.
The Broncos have farewelled grand final players Tom Flegler (Dolphins), Herbie Farnworth (Dolphins), Kurt Capewell (Warriors) and Keenan Palasia (Titans) since then and Billy said it was important they made the most of the America trip.
“Going to America and Vegas, you don’t want to get too sidetracked with all the fun stuff off the field,” he said.
“We are pretty lucky that we are going to be in LA for most of it. We only go to Vegas the last few nights we are there so hopefully the distractions won’t be too bad.
“We have a lot of leaders in the group and older players who will help the young boys get through.
“It is a good chance for us to focus on the game and getting the two points and not being distracted.
“It is against the Roosters, one of the heavyweights of the competition, so it will be a real good test.”
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