The Cronulla Sharks are set to share training facilities with Olympians, college footballers and potentially even NFL superstars as they put the finishing touches on their preparations for the NRL's season opener in Las Vegas.
The Sharks will be based in Los Angeles for nearly a week prior to flying to Vegas for their Round 1 clash with Penrith at Allegiant Stadium, following a similar model to the Sydney Roosters this year
The move will see Cronulla train at the famed University of Southern California, the college that produced 2024 NFL first overall draft pick Caleb Williams, and they are also exploring the possibility of completing their final session at UCLA or the LA Chargers' state-of-the-art training base.
Sharks football manager Mark Noakes recognises how fortunate the side is to have access to elite facilities to prepare for the game in Vegas.
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"The boys will get a kick out of walking into the universities," Noakes told pan66.com. "College football over there is massive and USC and UCLA are known around the world.
"If we can get access to the LA Chargers, that's a game changer for our preparation and the experience the boys have. Not many people get to have access to that.
"We're looking forward to the opportunity to go over there and get the two points. It's not just about going to America, we want to win and get the boys an experience they might never have again."
Noakes travelled to the US for a fact-finding mission last month alongside officials from the other NRL and UK Super League clubs participating in the season opener in Las Vegas.
Wigan and Warrington will kick off the quadruple header at Allegiant Stadium on March 1 before the Raiders play the Warriors. The Jillaroos will then take on England in a historic women's Test match, with Cronulla and Penrith to close out the spectacle.
The event comes on the back of last year's stunning success, where more than 40,000 fans turned out for the event. The NRL is looking to build on that crowd and pushing for more than 60,000 supporters to cram into the state-of-the-art stadium next season.
The Sharks look set to be the only NRL team to split their time between two cities, with the other three likely to spend all their time in Vegas.
Cronulla will complete three sessions in LA before flying to Vegas on the Tuesday afternoon. They will put the finishing touches on their preparation with a captain's run in Vegas before the game.
Noakes said a number of factors were considered when mapping out their schedule, with officials confident a delayed arrival in Vegas will ensure the side is completely focused on securing a victory over Penrith.
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"We wanted to give the boys a bit of an experience and we can do that in LA but the two points is the most important thing," he said. "We don't want to sacrifice that. We decided we can have a better prep in LA if we go early rather than straight to Vegas with the blinkers on.
"When we're in LA we can give the boys a bit of an experience, potentially go to an ice hockey game, then when we go to Vegas we're on. Once we get there everything is about the Round 1 game."
The planning for next year's event has thrown up a number of unexpected hurdles, with the lack of natural grass training facilities in LA the trickiest for the Sharks to navigate.
While two sessions will be held on synthetic turf at USC, club officials are eager for their main session on Tuesday to be held on natural grass.
Noakes is currently working through a number of options, with the LA Chargers' training facility the preferred site for the session.
Match: Panthers v Sharks
Round 1 -
home Team
Panthers
away Team
Sharks
Venue: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas
Match broadcasters:
- WatchNRL
The Sharks hope to finalise the plans early in the new year and remain confident of mapping out a solution.
"A major hurdle has been trying to find turf in LA," Noakes said. "Most of the fields are synthetic and because they're worried about wear and tear, the few grass fields they have are hard to get access to.
"Traffic is the other big hurdle in LA, nothing is ever 10 minutes away. USC is a one-stop shop with the field and gym in the one location. We could potentially use a field at UCLA but their gym has been pulled down and is getting rebuilt for the Olympics so that creates an issue because with traffic it takes so long to get around.
"The gold standard would be the LA Chargers, we would love to get access to their field. They are busy at the moment with their season so we're still waiting to hear back from them. They were very open and accommodating for us to potentially use it, so that's gold standard and fingers crossed that may come off."
