For the second consecutive year, four international athletes will be allowed to train with NRL clubs this season as part of rugby league's Las Vegas experiment.
Adam Channel, Marcus D'Acre, Maria Arzuaga and Renee Gonzalez were announced as the winners at halftime of the Jillaroos clash with England on Saturday night.
Channel, in particular, is a coup for the sport, having represented USA at the Olympics in 2024 solidifying his strong reputation in the sport.
They all have backgrounds in a different rugby code and were standouts at theย NRL combine, held overย two days in the entertainment capital of the world.
Each player will visit Australia for two weeks, and the competition will offer clubs salary cap exemptions to encourage them to sign as part of the sport's desire to reach a North American audience.
Clubs must sign players for a minimum of two years.
Channel, 28, said the possibility of debuting in the NRL is comparable to the thrill of being an Olympian.
โKnowing the grand scale of the NRL and the presence that it has in Australia, having the opportunity to hopefully debut one day in front of an NRL side is close to par to playing in the Olympics in my opinion,โ Channel said.
โIf one day I get the opportunity to debut, it will mean the absolute world to me.
โWe're both very grateful and very much looking forward to taking up this opportunity and soaking up as much information and growing as much as we can both individually and as team players.โ
D'Acre has been on the radar for some time, with the 20-year-old Canadian having an Australian passport, making him eligible to represent the Kangaroos.
โI'm hoping to start off somewhere on the wing, move through the centres and from there, see where the coaches put me.
โI played pretty much everywhere in the backline in 15s so I'm pretty adaptable; I just need to learn the game first.โ
Gonzalez has experience in the sevens and 15s Canadian teams, including at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
โIt's very inspiring to see the growth of this game and the growth in women's sports especially and how big rugby league is out there and it's amazing to see the turnout out here (in Las Vegas) as well,โ Gonzalez said.
โIt gives fuel to the fire of wanting to learn the game, grow the game and bring it to North America.โ
Arzuaga is a Colombian representative in rugby sevens but has played more 15s in recent times, with her first taste of league impressing her.
โThis is physical and it's beautiful,โ she said.
โWatching the women hitting and keeping on going is beautiful and what we want to show.โ
