I don't see any reason to be cheering. We've lost the guy. And if League's "benefit" means the NFL is about to start pinching more of our players then pardon me for not uncorking the champagne.

Again, some highlights on a free site is worth exactly zero. To quote Tom Cruise - show me the money. A few bored Yanks looking at YouTube clips does nothing. Parra could play a friendly in the US and make a few quid? Wow. That's worth losing one of the best backs of his generation. Not.

Talking up these benefits and how the publicity around Hayne can be "capitalised" on reminds me a lot of the dotcom boom. Went from valuing websites based on profit, to revenue and finally to clicks. Unsurprisingly the wheels fell off because the much hyped clicks never turned into cash. As will Hayne's move to the NFL.

I'd rather lose players to the NFL than that shire of e Union

Always wondered what would happen if USA took RL seriously, only about 1.5% of college graduates make it to the NFL and last over 4 years so there is a large pool or very fit athletic guys there who if they had another option might make the move over to RL, majority are probably built for it, needs some multi billionaires to get behind it and push the idea into colleges and onto the main stage over there, similar to how the MLS has grown over the years.

League is taking baby steps in the US.
If interest in Hayne can drive a small comp in the south west to form, that would be a good step forward.
The south west has been talked about as the next logical area for League to develop for the 15 years that League has been played in the US, because of high population density and high ex-pat population from League playing countries.

So you think that a "brain drain" into yet another sport will be good for the game.

If it were to help attract blue chip sponsors into RL then I would agree with you and there is some satisfaction in seeing one of League's top players succeed BUT, if the NRL comes calling, as a sport, we simply cannot compete with the $millions in that sport and apart form perhaps getting some yankee dollar, the numbers of top players will shrink still further.

What do you think would happebn if another 6/8 top players went form our sport ?

I couldn't agree more - it's meaningless, unless our only value as a sport is as a curiosity that occasionally throws up people who turn out to be good at 'better' sports.

I'm pleased for the lad, but it's much ado about nothing in terms of value to RL.

I don't think it's meaningless at all. The more people exposed to our sport the more fans we will find.

It seems we are stuck here between two extremes where this will either get us a fully pro league in the US or it will do nothing at all.

Used correctly this can be a catalyst. There is no reason to expect it can't. We should use this as our foot in the door. It will get people to listen. We should get use it. We should capitalise on it.

Send the WCC there. Use Haynes name. Use that recognition and if at the end of it we get an amateur side there. Fantastic. Cali if it were a country would be amongst the biggest economies in the world and there are millions of people there. A foothold there is a brilliant thing.

and, looking at it the other way round, surely the awareness of RL created by Hayne, creates an opportunity for our clubs to attract some of the majority of American footballers who don't make NFL level, to trial for RL. There must be some huge athletes who we could train up to play prop if nothing else. As we have seen reported in connection with Hayne, they don't earn huge amounts if not selected for the final roster of an NFL club.

Means nothing. Yanks aren't going to start following league because of Haynes 5 mins of fame.

What makes you so certain that Hayne's fame will only last 5 minutes?

I expect him to shine on Special Teams this season, and get heaps more publicity in the NFL.

What makes you so certain that Hayne's fame will only last 5 minutes?

I expect him to shine on Special Teams this season, and get heaps more publicity in the NFL.

There are 2 trains of thought here.

1. The likes of JEAN will give us the highs and lows of how the US Market is just there for the taking and a half dozen Aussies/Polynesians being signed up as Defensive ends or punt returners will have the Donald Trump's and Warren Buffett's triping over themselves to invest in a sport that currently has most of it's American teams playing in stadiums with no seating or terracing (do they call them bleachers in the US?) and that is played at the top club level in 2 states, 2 counties and 2 cities on the Global stage.
He'll be joined by posters claiming that if we could just pick up 1% of the college NFL failures, we'd be dead set for world domination and the USA RL side would be challenging for World Cup honours inside 20 years. If only we could get Americans to watch one game...they'd be hooked!

Then there's:

2. Those that realise that no publicity is bad and Hayne making the grade is brilliant for him as he really did take a punt on it (no pun intended) and it's nice that the NRL and RL gets a mention. That's the extent of it though and rather than "get rich quick" scenarios, the game needs to sort itself out where it is at the moment, with a few clubs on life support and players like Hayne being lost to rival sports. It needs to address the top 3 or 4 clubs in SL are the same, how we need to expand the playing/talent pool to get the next 4 up to the same standard, how to get fans back into stadiums, how to ensure that we don't forget to take the lower divisions when we move on and to put policies in place to increase the number of kids playing and staying in the sport.

The bottom line here is the only sport that has gained any real publicity here is NFL, with viewing figures for 49'ers games probably higher last year in Australia.

As a big fan of the 2 greatest sports in the world this could actually work well for both sides. What we need to realise is that RL is VERY easy for a NFL fan to grasp. I took an American friend to and England game once and basically described it as when a team receives the ball it's 1st and goal and they have 6 downs. That's all he really needed to know to enjoy it.

From a RL perspective we need to capitalise on the curiosity about RL caused by Hayne ASAP. The 3rd origin game at either Levi Stadium or Rose Bowl would be a start. Teams committing to establishing feeder clubs on the west coast and maybe holding the 9s tournament there would be even better. They could then tap into the local resource of college/high school players who haven't made the grade.

For the NFL they desperately want to expand into Australia having been so successful in London so this is the perfect time to take a game to Sydney, especially if they can get the 49ers involved. This would probably have to kick off at 7pm local time in Sudney on the Satursay but it's feasible.

What can't be understated is what a pheonomenal achievement it is by Hayne to make the roster, in my mind the greatest sporting switch in history. There are levels of complexity to NFL that take years to grasp never mind master whilst simultaneously having to adapt his style and physique to match what's required. It's amazing he's managed it so quickly and I doubt we'll ever see someone manage something like this again.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you train of thought #1



Few things to think about here


Barking Mad....absolutely barking!