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This weekend's global rugby league jamboree is prompting reunions for friends and relatives crossing thousands of kilometres to be at Allegiant Stadium - and Panthers forward Moses Leota is one of hundreds of beneficiaries.
Not only does the quadruple-header allow people in Australia and New Zealand to catch up with fellow league lovers from England but there is the added dimension of expatriates from North America making it an annual pilgrimage.
Migration and adoption scattered parts of his parents’ families to the four corners of the globe but following Sunday’s game, Leota will meet his Florida-based uncle Tolu for the very first time.
“I actually have some family flying out from Miami and a couple of family coming from home,” the Samoa international said after training on Monday.
The Floridians, he said, were “originally from Sa’, Samoa, but they’ve pretty much lived here their whole life. This is going to be the first time I get to see them so it’s going to be pretty cool.
“It’s my uncle, my mum’s brother. She was adopted when she was younger. I’ve never met him but I’ve met my aunty (Helen).”
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Moses Leota kickstarts the comeback
Leota said he would delay the ‘long lost’ reunion until after full-time, though.
"Business first,” he said with a smile.
NRL.com previously reported how Wigan’s Kaide Ellis would be attracting as many as 20 people from his home town of Dubbo in central west NSW.
Warrior Charnze Nicoll-Klockstad can’t match those numbers - but he does have a friend he met in a rather unusual way making the 11,000 km journey to be on hand.
“Dylan, he’s actually my mortgage broker,” Nicoll-Klokstad said. “He’s coming through to watch the game which is going to be pretty funny.
“We’ve become good mates over the last couple of years and he’s the only one I believe is coming over, that I know.”
Like Ellis, Warrior Wayde Egan is reducing the population of provincial NSW for a few days.
“Mum and dad are coming. Any excuse to have a trip away. They’re coming from Lithgow, a long trip.”
