Manly were arguably the best-performed side in America last year and their strategy has been a blueprint for those that followed.
The Sea Eagles organised a night out for the players soon after they arrived, and a pact was made to abstain from alcohol thereafter. The gaming tables were also a no-go zone from the Monday before the game.
Coach Andrew Webster poses for a selfie with a Warriors fan in Fremont Street.Credit: Getty Images
“The players come up with that themselves,” said Manly coach Anthony Seibold. “The first two days we allowed them to soak it up. We have got men in our group and we treated them like men.
“What we found was, when the other teams come in [later on], the bright lights of Vegas get you. You think ‘Holy hell!’”
Sooner or later, though, the attention turns to football. Manly realised, given the shortened field dimensions, there was no point trying to play around their opposition.
“One of the learnings was to play from the middle of the park quite a bit to have two-side attack,” Seibold explained. “We scored 36 points, so that worked really well for us.
The Sea Eagles were spot on with their Vegas preparation last year.Credit: AP
“The other learning was that, because the field is shorter, you didn’t need a massively long kicking game.
“Both teams were making it over halfway easier than you would in a normal game, so we practised a lot of short kicks and we got a bit of joy there with Reuben Garrick scoring a try from a kick.”
This year’s Vegas voyagers have all trained fields smaller than regulation in a bid to acclimatise. Fitzgibbon described the difference as “noticeable”, but didn’t feel a major overhaul of tactics was required.
“Conventional wisdom would have said a narrower field, it’s harder to break teams down, harder to score tries, you would have thought,” Fitzgibbon said.
“I didn’t notice a huge difference in how the teams attacked the game in last year’s experience. But we’re playing the Panthers: they’re hard to break down whether it’s a conventional size or a narrower one.
“We need to execute well to earn our points, and I’d like to think they’ll have to do the same thing.
“We’ve worked hard to get ready for what’s coming, but we won’t know until we actually get out there. We’re definitely playing a quality opponent and we’ll have to execute whatever shots we fire.”
It’s a good thing Allegiant Stadium has a roof. Last year, the venue was hammered with wind gusts of up to 107 kilometres per hour, which would have made kicking a nightmare had the match been played in the open.
“It’s a challenge for everyone, but how many roofed stadiums in the world are there?” Fitzgibbon said.
“I think it’s exciting more than anything else to play at a venue like Allegiant. There’s a couple of Australian venues specific to rugby league that are super stadiums, but this one is right up there with the best in the world. It’s a great opportunity. I’d be interested to see how the roof feels once we get out there.”
There’s also a feeling among the teams that there’s no point spending the entire pre-season practising on smaller pitches, when only one of the 24 regular-season games is played on one. The Warriors chose not to adjust their field markings until the second trial against Melbourne.
“We looked at the games last year and there may have been the odd instance where the pitch does play a part in it,” said Warriors assistant coach Richard Agar, who spent most of his playing and coaching career in England, where several pitches are also smaller than regulation.
“They were high-scoring games. The general consensus was that on a smaller pitch it would be harder to score, but that hasn’t seemed to be the case in last year’s game or even the trial games.”
There’s no doubt that the kicking game has to be spot on. Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary’s mastery with the boot is beyond compare and it’s likely he will make the required tweaks. Halves partner Jack Cole, hoping to make the No.6 jersey previously worn by Jarome Luai his own, doesn’t think too much has to change at Allegiant Stadium.
“We trained for it a couple of weeks before we came over, we had our fields lined out to the Vegas-sized field,” Cole said. “It honestly didn’t feel too much different.”
One of the highlight moments from last year came in the opening game. When Manly winger Jason Saab, considered by many to be the fastest man in the game, found open space out wide. If it had happened at home, it would have been a certain try. Instead, then-Rabbitohs halfback Lachlan Ilias made the most of a narrow channel to produce one of the best cover tackles imaginable.
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For the most part, however, rugby league in America will look and feel the same as when it’s played in Australia.
“At the end of the day, the game will be the game,” Fitzgibbon said. “If you don’t play strongly, if you don’t do the simple, fundamental parts of the game, it won’t matter.
“It’s the logistics, the planning, making sure you’re well prepared, making sure you travel on time and all the stuff that comes with being away for an extended period.
“The game will be the game. If you don’t turn up on the night and execute well and play well, your preparation doesn’t matter anyway. You’ve got to put it all together.”
The Herald’s travel expenses to Las Vegas have been partly funded by the NRL.
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