Vegas teams to play pre-season matches on NFL-sized fields

Canberra’s GIO Stadium and FMG Stadium Waikato will be modified to replicate Allegiant Stadium for this weekend’s Witzer Pre-season Challenge to help Vegas-bound players adapt to the smaller playing field.

With players in the four teams opening the Telstra Premiership season on March 1 to have their final hit-out before departing for the US, the NRL has approved the modification of the two grounds from 100m to 94.5m in length and 68m to 63.1m in width.

The Raiders will host the Sharks in Canberra on Thursday night, while the Warriors meet the Storm, who are not one of the four Vegas teams, in Hamilton on Saturday night.

Four-time premiers Penrith, who will face Cronulla in the final match of the quadruple header at Allegiant Stadium, which also features the Wigan-Warrington Super League clash and Australia-England women’s Test, have a bye this weekend.

The four teams have spent time training on modified fields in a bid to help players adjust to the shorter and narrower dimensions of Allegiant Stadium.

Raiders captain Joseph Tapine and Sharks skipper Cameron McInnes predicted the smaller field would mean fans in Vegas would be treated to a more physical contest.  

“It will be good just to get a feel for how we want to play over there,” Canberra prop Tapine said ahead of Thursday night’s match against the Sharks.

“They marked out the field at training, and it feels really tight and short, but I am excited because it means more contact.

McInnes, who also plays in the middle, said Cronulla had been training on a smaller field at Sharks Stadium in preparation for Vegas.

“At training they have adjusted the lines for us,” McInnes said. “This week against Canberra we are playing against them at their stadium, and they have done the same, which will be good, although to be honest it doesn’t make much difference in the middle.”

With Allegiant Stadium 94.5 metres long (100 yards), the field will be marked into 9.45m grids and the NRL has been able to widen Allegiant Stadium from 49m for NFL matches to 63.1m.

In comparison, a regulation rugby league field is 100m from goal line to goal line and 68m wide. The in-goal areas will also be 6.4m deep at each end of the field instead of the usual 10m.

“Good footy teams adjust to how big the field is or how you play, so we will adjust accordingly I guess,” said Tapine, who was a member of the New Zealand team which played England at Denver’s Mile High Stadium in 2018.

“I played in Denver and we had to play on an NFL field as well, but this is going to be a whole other level. The other difference in Denver was the altitude. After 15 minutes I felt like I had played about 50 minutes.”

The four NRL teams playing at Allegiant Stadium will depart next week to prepare for the season opening fixtures, with the Sharks to spend time in Los Angles before travelling to Vegas, where Canberra, Penrith and the Warriors will be based.

McInnes said he had spoken to players from the four teams who played in Vegas last year – the Broncos, Rabbitohs, Roosters and Sea Eagles.

“I was in the Origin arena last year with the Souths, Manly and Roosters boys, and Payne [Haas] from the Broncos. They all had varying opinions about it,” he said.

“The questions I was asking were more around training than the game itself. The Roosters went to LA to start with, which is what we are doing as well, whereas Manly went to Vegas the whole time.

“What I would say is that the Manly boys and Roosters boys had a better time than Souths and the Broncos, and that’s because they won.

“That’s how it works in footy, they all spoke highly of the experience, but I was listening more to the Manly and Roosters guys.”