Brad Walter: Rugby League journalist on the NRL season opener in Las Vegas, thousands of Warriors fans in support

The NRL season is kicking off this Sunday in Las Vegas. 

The Warriors are one of four teams playing in the American city this weekend as the NRL is looking to expand the game into America.

Rugby League journalist Brad Walter is in Las Vegas and joins the show.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Graham Bridge.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
First, though, the NRL is back this weekend, with the
opening round kicking off in the glistening lights of Las Vegas.
The Warriors are one of four teams playing in Sin
City this weekend. It's the NRL is looking to expand
the game into America. Brad Walter is a very lucky man.
He's there. He's a Rugby league journalist for NRL Digital. Brad,
First of all, where are you? What's it like where

(00:22):
you are?

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Yeah, so I'm at the fan fest in Fremont's Street
in Vegas. It's like a big mall and it's absolutely heaving.
There's thousands and thousands of people all in NRL or
Super League jerseys for as far as the eye can
see in every direction. And it's yes, they're just jam
packed in this in this mall. It's it's incredible. This

(00:45):
is the atmosphere here in Las Vegas this week and
the build up to the to the game has been
that's a that's a massive step up on last year.
I think just the English fans bring so much, you know,
the sea and the chants and things like that. You
just see English stands around. But the one thing I've
noticed everywhere is the number of Warriors jerseys. It's incredible.

(01:10):
I would say the Warriors will be the most supported
team at Allegian Stadium on the weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Are they Kiwis or are they Americans or Brits or what.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well they could be. I don't know, to be honest.
I mean, yeah, look, there's a there's a lot of
Kiwi's here. Whether they whether they live in the States
or whether they've flown over for the game. I'm not sure,
but I think thirty eight percent of tickets have been
sold in the United States, So I don't know everyone

(01:42):
he's got a head rel jersey on. So those people
living in the States obviously followed the NRL as well.
But I think there's I do feel like that there's
a lot of maybe a lot of people who saw
it last year and maybe they've been told about it
by friends or they are of rugby league, like I'm
talking about Americans, and you know, maybe they and they've

(02:05):
decided to come as well. Because there's definitely, you know,
there's definitely a lot of local interests and you sort
of feel like now too that now that the game
was here last year, or that the event was here
last year, and that the NRL's come back. This time,
people are much more aware of what's happening the event itself,

(02:26):
and also of what of the difference between rugby league
and rugby union, which certainly wasn't the case last year.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Is Dana White there yet? What's he What's he actually
going to do? Do you know?

Speaker 1 (02:38):
I don't know he's been invited. I don't look, I
don't know if he's here, and I don't know what
he's going to do if he is here. But I
know that he has been invited to blow the Raider's horn,
the Viking horn before the game against the Warriors. I
don't know whether that's that's come off or not. I'm
not I'm not really sure who's going to blow the

(03:01):
horn for the Raiders or whether whether Dana White or
Donald Trump or any of those people you know who
will be here. But I think one thing I will
say that is that, yeah, there's definitely more interest and
more you know, I think maybe more high profile American
athletes in particular that are key to come. You know,

(03:21):
there's a lot of Pacific people with Pacific Island heritage
in the States and especially on the West Coast and
a lot of athletes in the NFL in particular, who
have like a connection with the game, you know, whether
it be rugby league or rugby union.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Hey bread, just quickly before you go. The Raiders Warriors
game is going to be broadcast on Fox. They have
a distribution of one hundred and twenty five million homes.
Do you know how many people they are expecting to
watch it?

Speaker 1 (03:52):
No, I don't. I don't know, but hopefully, you know,
hopefully that's hopefully a.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Lot of people, but hopefully all of them.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Hopefully all of them. One thing I think, like everybody
agrees is that any American who sees rugby league likes it,
They're just going to be exposed to us. So hopefully
they tune in because if they do, they can relate
to it.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
You know.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
The six tackles is like downs in NFL American football,
and I think they really like the contact and the game.
For me of the weekend, you know, the Warriors Raiders
is going to be a tracking game. But for me,
I think Americans are going to be absolutely blown away
when they see the physicality and skill and athleticism of
the Australian and England women's players. I think that's going

(04:36):
to be a shock because last year they were all
raving about no pats, no helmets. When the men played, well,
the women play exactly. They played just as hard as
the men do.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah, quite true, Brad, Hey, good luck this weekend. Hang
in there, drink lots of water. Brad Walter, Rugby league
journalist inter Our Digital in Las Vegas. For more from
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