Allegiant Stadium will host four games in one day. Will the playing surface survive?

“There’s no reason it won’t be just as good for the last game as the first.”

Raider Manoa answers Canberra’s call

The Canberra Raiders have finally found someone to blow their custom-made Viking horn in Las Vegas, after UFC boss Dana White knocked back their invitation earlier in the week.

Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Tyler Manoa will do the honours before the match against the Warriors at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday morning, AEDT

Raiders chief executive Don Furner said the club had been eager to enlist a player from the local NFL outfit, which shares a name with the Canberra club.

“We’re really excited today, we were really trying hard to get a Las Vegas Raiders player to be our ambassador,” Furner said. “Of course, our name came from the Raiders, the American NFL team, and we’re lucky enough today to secure Tyler Manoa, who is of Polynesian heritage – which makes it even more relevant.

“We’ve always had a proud history of Polynesian players with our club … so we welcome him here tomorrow to start the Viking clap, hopefully with 60,000 people.

There is a big Polynesian population that are playing gridiron now – Jordan Mailata, Papa [Josh Papali’i] would have been a good NFL player if he had grown up here.”

Furner made the announcement at the team’s walkthrough at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday morning, where he was joined by Raiders duo Papali’i and Simi Sasagi.

The walkthrough was the players’ first and only opportunity to step onto the field before match day, and all eight teams had half an hour on the turf.

“A bit different to Aussie rugby fields, obviously a bit shorter,” Papali’i said. “The 10 [metre line] is actually not a 10. Obviously going to be a real physical game tomorrow. Looking forward to it.”

Canberra commissioned a new, American-made horn for their season opener, which cost in excess of $10,000 to make.

A Los Angeles-based firm was tasked with building a 3.6-metre, 36-kilogram instrument for the occasion because it was too difficult to transport the one used at home games in the nation’s capital.

Ivan’s birthday wish

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary turned 53 on Friday and conceded he had one big birthday wish.

“I want to win,” Cleary said. “It’s the start of a new season and everyone wants to get off to a good start, and we’re no different.”

The Panthers look comparatively short on star power heading into round one, having farewelled Jarome Luai, James Fisher-Harris and Sunia Turuva in the off-season, while Brian To’o and Liam Henry will be missing with injuries.

However, Cleary said the team were ready to go.

“The last couple of years we’ve played a very high intensity game to start our season, with the World Club Challenge. Both those games, a lot of the boys hadn’t played a trial game [beforehand],” Cleary said. “We did lose them, though.

“Any time you start the season, you’re not going to be at your absolute best, obviously, and that’s any team. We’re happy with the way we’ve prepared, trained, and the guys have mentioned there’s always going to be injuries throughout the year. We’re happy with what we’ve done.”

Cowboys deal for D’Acre

Even if he doesn’t win the NRL combine, Marcus D’Acre has a rugby league contract waiting for him in Australia.

D’Acre has been training with the Sharks ahead of his combine tryouts, hoping to earn one of two two-year contracts on offer to the best-performing male athletes.

But the North Queensland Cowboys have already offered D’Acre a “young guns” deal to go to Townsville in April.

The 20-year-old grew up in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore playing rugby, but had never touched a Steeden until this week.

“He wants to play rugby league at the highest level,” said father Nigel D’Acre, who represented the US in rugby league.

“If he gets another opportunity to play for another NRL club, that’s great, but North Queensland has been amazing. They have laid down a pathway for him. Hopefully, he’s set up for a good career in the game.”

The Herald’s travel expenses to Las Vegas have been partly funded by the NRL.

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