NFL superstar Cam Newton

EVEN with the advantages of flattering video editing, mood lighting and emotive music, this NFL star still sucks at Aussie Rules. This ad makes almost no sense.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton trains with the Richmnd today as part of a Gatorade Arhlete Exchange program. Pic: Michael Klein

THE formula was simple enough.

You take one NFL star and throw him neck deep into an AFL club to see if he can sink or swim trying out a new sport.

You show 13,000 shots of a Gatorade bottle, mix in some emotive background tunes and cut up some inspirational - but not really applicable - quotes about athletic achievement - and when it’s all blended together you have a pretty decent ad to spruik a few litres of sports drink.

It should be a home run every time.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t for Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, Richmond Tigers or the marketing dudes at Gatorade when they flew the 26-year-old to Melbourne as part of Gatorade’s Athlete Exchange program.

With Australian interest in the NFL at an all-time high, bad boy Newton seemed like the perfect choice to sell the pursuit of athletic achievement and how success should be directly linked to the amount of Gatorade one guzzles.

Perhaps they thought Newton, who signed a $168 million contract in June, would be showing off dazzling 50m drop punts after a few days with the Tigers.

Cam Newton has some mad skillz with a different type of ball.

Perhaps they thought Damien Hardwick would at least be able to teach him to handball.

Once again the end product shows otherwise.

Newton visited the Tigers in July to film the ad, saying he was there to “stimulate his mind and body to stay in shape”.

“I look forward to learning something new that could benefit me in my sport too,” Newton says in the ad.

“AFL as a whole is a very cool sport. I can honestly say I have no clue what I’m doing.”

That goes without saying.

The four minute ad also shows Newton fluffing handballs, shanking punts and lagging behind on running drills.

In one kicking drill, in which he murders a small 10m punt, Newton exclaims: “That wasn’t right. Why did it do that? What am I doing”.

Tigers stars Dustin Martin and Brett Deledio also feature as Newton’s momentary mentors.

The ad doesn’t paint a pretty picture for any coaching ambitions they may have following their playing careers.

The ad finishes with the tag line “win from within”.

We’re still scratching our heads.