The individual who will bring the most American fans to Las Vegas this weekend won't be Nathan Cleary or Nicho Hynes. It will in fact be Warriors coach Andrew Webster, who has drawn his own personal cheer squad from the east coast of the USA. It's a little known fact that Webster began the coaching journey that brought him to Vegas in the small town of Norwalk, Connecticut. "I realised pretty early on that I wasn't going to make it as an NRL playmaker," Webster told Wide World of Sports. "So I decided to travel and play the game as I did so. "I ended up at the Connecticut Wildcats as player-coach. I was only 23 but had picked up plenty of good knowledge from smart coaches in my short time in the NRL in the game in Sydney. "We ended up making the grand final and I just loved the experience. "Then I went to visit my brother in England and did some footy work over there as well. "It gave me the passion for coaching and coming back here to the USA means a lot to me. "There are a lot of people I haven't seen since I was here in 2005 - 20 years ago - and a heap of them will be coming across country for the game. "It will be great to have them here, catch up again and reminisce after the match." Having been involved in league in the USA at grass roots level, Webster is convinced there is a future for the game here. "They love their NFL but the spectacle they are after is people with no shoulder pads running hard at each other," Webster said. "I remember watching the games on TV last year and (Manly's) Lachlan Croker suddenly had blood on his face from a head clash. "I reckon the Americans thought 'wow how tough is this sport'. "We've grown up with it, you get a knock, you just keep going, but to them it is a real novelty." The Warriors kick off the NRL season against the Raiders in Las Vegas. The game begins at 11am in Australia's eastern daylight states.
No comments:
Post a Comment