With New York 'holiday' over, Val targets NRL rebirth

He felt a sense of guilt while uttering the words but Valentine Holmes concedes his NFL stint in New York turned more into a holiday despite the cut-throat nature of American sport.

From having a new roommate every week to getting up close and personal with the Jets' biggest stars, Holmes went from a poster boy in rugby league to a virtual unknown in the Big Apple.

The 24-year-old left the States with a different perspective on a sport that is essentially a global phenomenon.

"It's kind of sad saying it but I felt like I was on a holiday," Holmes said of his NFL experience leading into his NRL return on Friday night. 

"I'll miss the cold weather, I didn't like training in it but I liked dressing up. It's a great city with big cafes and good shopping.

"And it was cool to experience how they prepare for a game and at training. I went down to the sheds every home game and got to watch and cheer them on.

"That was pretty cool, something I never thought I'd do. I definitely learnt a lot mentally and as a person I feel more mature in a way.

"We're on a decent scale here in Australia but they're worldwide guys."

The hardest part of his experience could very well make his second stint in the NRL easier to handle.

Holmes's training days went for 11 hours on average and included four hours allocated to "classroom" work – delving into the far more intense and tactical approach that comes in the NFL system in analysing plays and performance. 

"The first couple of weeks it was all a blur with the writings on the board, I didn't know what was going on," Holmes said.

"It definitely [shocked me] and considering you only got five minute breaks every 45 minutes it was pretty tough.

"They fine you heavily over there too so you're trying to mentally stay awake and you don't really know what's going on.

"Over here I feel like we complain a bit more, we don't like it dragging on whereas there they don't have a choice.

"Mentally I don't know how they do it but obviously they get through it because it's very cut-throat and they know they have to pay attention and know what's they're doing out on the field or they'll get someone else in."

Holmes felt the force first-hand of the Jets churning through players in rapid succession.

His first three roommates were cut on a weekly basis in his opening month of trialling.

"It's sad but it's just the way it is, everyone goes in like it's a normal day yet their lockers are emptied," Holmes said.

"Every Monday they have tryouts for people coming in so your position is always up for grabs... I liked the challenge of it."

And what about if a player gets injured?

"Their contracts aren't guaranteed like ours are here," Holmes said.

"The quarterbacks get guaranteed contracts and they treat them pretty good but second and third tier guys they can cut you and are happy to pay you whatever the guaranteed was.

"Even if you get injured over there … if you're a good player on good money you're alright but a lot of the rookies or lower tier guys that got injured got cut the next day.

"It's pretty ruthless. I heard about it going over there but witnessing it was crazy."

The most common questions Holmes has been asked by Australian media since announcing his return to rugby league has centred around his body weight and whether he would consider ever another NFL stint in the future.

It's a far cry from when he walked the streets in the US as a total stranger to many Jets players and fans, let alone the general public.

"It brought me back down a bit and it's good because the guys over there didn't know who I was so it was cool to walk around and be myself and do whatever I wanted," he said.

"But eventually all the boys got onto who I was and got onto YouTube and it got around the sheds."

After things failed to pan out for Holmes in the US, the opportunity to play alongside his brother-in-law and Cowboys captain Michael Morgan ultimately led him to back to Townsville.

The pair are close through their respective wives Brianna and Natalia, who are sisters.

"He was messaging me all the time but it wasn't just then," Holmes said of Morgan.

"Even when I was at the Sharks his wife would be talking to him because she wanted her sister back as well.

"He wasn't forcing me to come but was asking me what my thoughts were if I were to come back.

"He said there was definitely a spot and kind of sold it to me.

"My wife has been following me for a while so I thought if I could get a job there and she could be happy and have her job there it would work out well for both of us."

With the Cowboys having missed the finals for the past two seasons, Holmes knows he'll have plenty of expectation on his shoulders in 2020.

"I'm happy with how we're going," Holmes said.

"We've been training well, I'm excited to get these games going. You don't win the season in the first couple of months so it's about building and finding that consistency in games and at training."