Rock sought to buy US side
South Sydney’s Alex Johnston was already recognised as a great wingman.
Now he and Rabbitohs teammate Damien Cook have used the location for the movie Top Gun to channel their skills on the beach volleyball court.
Based in San Diego ahead of their preparation for a Las Vegas kick-off against the Sea Eagles, the Rabbitohs took time off the training pitch on Tuesday.
The Bunnies players traded digs and spikes as they hit the same sandy beaches of Coronado that Tom Cruise made famous in the 1980s cult movie.
Other Rabbitohs players, including Tom Burgess and Lachlan Ilias, tossed an NFL ball on the beach.
The recharge day was strategically positioned by the South Sydney coaching staff ahead of a hugely important training day on Wednesday.
It will be the team’s most significant session ahead of flying to Las Vegas on Thursday.
One player aiming to join team training on Wednesday and for the first time since arriving in the US is the team’s hugely influential fiveeighth Cody Walker.
Walker is firming as a certain starter for the historic round kickoff after passing a secret fitness test on Monday afternoon.
Hollywood megastar Dwayne “The Rock’’ Johnson has been approached to buy a US franchise as Rugby League America consortium chiefs prepare to table a $23 million proposal to the NRL in Las Vegas.
It can be revealed an investor has contacted the NRL expressing interest in outlaying a $2.3 million franchise start-up fee to be part of a proposed 10team American rugby league competition.
RLA consortium boss Steve Scanlan has held preliminary talks with ARLC chair Peter V’landys and will formally present his ‘‘NRL America’’ viJohnson,
In a massive boost for one of the NRL’s premiership contenders in 2024, Walker has been named in the six jersey by Souths head coach Jason Demetriou.
Hampered by a calf injury for the past fortnight, Walker has worked overtime in the US to rehabilitate his way back to full fitness.
He has spent his entire time in San Diego training alone, working with the club’s rehabilitation team to ensure his readiness for round one.
However, the key Rabbitoh underwent a demanding run and sprint session under the eye of the high performance staff, at the same time the rest of the team had a day off.
The session was also closed from any of the Australian media travelling with South Sydney.
The almost 50-minute workout held at the University of California San Diego was the last box that Walker needed to tick before Demetriou could name the star five-eighth in the Bunnies team to play Manly.
In another great story of persistence and patience, 28-yearold winger Jacob Gagai has also been chosen to make his NRL debut on a stage that few, if any at all, have encountered in their first NRL game. sion at an ARLC board meeting on Sunday.
As a precursor to Scanlan’s meeting, the RLA consortium is getting serious, formally reaching out to former WWE sensation The Rock to buy a stake in one of the 10 franchises.
who has an estimated worth of $1.2 billion, has Polynesian and Hawaiian heritage and threw his support behind the Samoan rugby league when it qualified for the 2022 World Cup final.
Now RLA chiefs want the movie magnate to be part of a proposed NRL America competition by spearheading a franchise to be located in Hawaii.
Brisbane-based businessman Scanlan confirmed the RLA consortium has reached out to The Rock, 51, to invest in a fourth franchise following the sale of three licences in New York, Dallas and Las Vegas.
Sydney Roosters star Luke Keary has predicted the showboating theatre of American sport will become widespread in the NRL, a sport which traditionally banishes players who are “loud and obnoxious”.
In a move that would irritate conservative fans, Keary claims rugby league’s rising stars – led by Brisbane’s Ezra Mam and Penrith’s Jarome Luai – will start to imitate the brash antics of NFL and NBA players.
American sport is renowned for its athletes being trashtalking, loud and brash, traits which have failed to be transplanted into league.
But Keary said the next generation of players, raised on TikTok, YouTube and American sport, are ready to forever change the on-field behaviour of rugby league players.
“If someone is loud, obnoxious and puts themselves out there back home, we just shove them back in their box,” Keary said.
“The athleticism and showmanship, the way they do it over here, can be attractive to us and is so different for us.
“But I reckon this new generation, because they have had so much access through social media, like Ezra Mam and Jarome Luai, they are a bit more out there.
“They are still going to cop it (if they showboat) but they’ve got to get through that. I reckon we will get a few more doing it.”