Rabbitohs build a reenactment of Allegiant Stadium as Vegas gets ready
Prior to their historic season-opening match against Manly in Las Vegas, South Sydney players have been training on a specially designed field that replicates the smaller dimensions of Allegiant Stadium.
Three weeks prior to the NRL doubleheader on March 3, Allegiant Stadium will host Super Bowl LVXIII. Because it is an NFL-specific field, it will be marginally narrower and shorter than a typical rugby league field.
The 94-meter field (100 yards) will be divided into 9.4-meter grids using the NFL’s distinctive stencilling to number each 10 yards, and the NRL has been able to expand Allegiant Stadium to nearly 65 meters, so fans won’t notice much of a difference.
A typical rugby lead, in contrast, measures 68 meters in width and 100 meters from goal line to goal line. Additionally, the in-goal gue fil areas at each end of the field will be 6.3 meters deep.
The Sea Eagles game will kick off the 2024 NRL season, and the Rabbitohs are going all out to prepare for it. The second game of the doubleheader will see the Sydney Roosters take on the Brisbane Broncos.
Since the top Souths players weren’t expected to play until the Charity Shield match against the Dragons on February 17, coach Jason Demetriou and his staff arranged for the club’s Heffron Park training field to be altered.
The club’s training facility in San Diego and Allegiant Stadium have also been shown on video to the players.
“This week was a good opportunity for us to mark it like Allegiant and experience what is essentially a fairly small football field, to see how our NRL team wants to play when they get to Vegas for Round 1,” Rabbitohs COO Brock Schaefer said. “Our NRL team is in the last week of pre-season before their Charity Shield prep.”
You cannot pretend that Round 1 is the entire season; it is only for this week. We play the rest of the season on a regulation field, but it’s a crucial game that’s only for two points.
The replica Allegiant Stadium markings, which are painted white inside blue lines to represent the standard NRL sized field, have helped the Rabbitohs players visualize how historic it will be to play in the first-ever Premiership match played on US soil.
Schaefer, though, is adamant that the Souths won’t drastically change their style of play due to the Las Vegas field’s smaller dimensions.
“I believe that the players have taken pleasure in their sessions on the replica field, and they are highly enthusiastic and grateful to be able to gauge the kind of conditions they can expect in Round 1,” Schaefer stated.
“After a week of learning about what to expect in Vegas, they’ll return to getting ready for the Charity Shield. We will have two weeks to prepare on an Allegiant-style field after we arrive.
“However, there is still a South Sydney style of play, and in general, it won’t alter how we play football or how supporters perceive Round 1.”
The Rabbitohs will train at UCLA, take in the local culture, and spend time with US Navy seals in the renowned naval city—home of the USS Midway—before flying to Las Vegas on the eve of the match. The team is staying in San Diego.
Souths officials have given the players a thorough rundown of their daily schedule in San Diego and Las Vegas to aid in their preparation.
“We want them to know where they are staying, where they are training, what the climate is like, what the food is like, and any unique cultural norms in San Diego that they need to be aware of,” Schaefer said. “We don’t want anything to feel like a surprise to them.”
When we get there, we are taking certain steps to assimilate into the community. We have been discussing how we should be welcomed to the nation of Native Americans who live in San Diego County when we arrive.
Since San Diego is home to one of the biggest naval bases in the country, we have also been collaborating with the US Navy. As a result, we are taking steps to guarantee that the players have a realistic understanding of their destination.
In a similar vein, the briefing for Las Vegas has been extremely thorough with regard to what they can expect and what daily life entails; a significant portion of that does involve security and risk management.
“We’ve shown them videos of the training facilities and Allegiant Stadium so they can experience what it’s like to be there.” Our players won’t be caught off guard when they arrive.
