Warrington Wolves and England star on how Vegas games can ‘grow the game’

Warrington Wolves winger Matty Ashton has been stateside recently ahead of Wire’s participation in the Las Vegas event in early March.

After the success of the inaugural Las Vegas event that saw two NRL games hosted there, the concept has returned and is bigger and hopefully better.

That’s seen Super League get on board with Wigan Warriors to host Warrington Wolves in their Round Three fixture at Allegiant Stadium whilst England Women will take on Australia in a fourth game.

Both Super League sides have gone on huge marketing campaigns to promote the game and this past weekend has seen each of Wigan’s Kruise Leeming and Warrington’s Matty Ashton head stateside.

They took in two other huge sporting events as they attended the Las Vegas Grand Prix and an NFL game between the Raiders and the Denver Broncos, played at the stadium they’ll play at in less than 100 days.

Ashton has now reflected on the experience, telling NRL.com that: “It is good to see how much they are trying to promote rugby league.”

He also noted just how much the game was being promoted stateside, explaining:”There is a big advertising board on the side of the stadium, and I sent a picture to Duft because his face is on it with all the NRL players.”

Warrington Wolves man on how Vegas can help rugby league grow

It’s expected that huge numbers of Super League fans will attend, something that Ashton also believes as he stated: “I know the UK fans are going to travel in numbers, and no-one brings better atmosphere than the UK fans, so it is going to fantastic when they all get over here.

“I think it is going to be exciting with such a mixture of fans from the different teams and different countries.”

With four other NRL clubs on the billing as well as an international game, there’s sure to be a huge mix of fans and for Ashton, that’s something that sums up rugby league.

The Warrington Wolves winger explained: “Rugby league is like a big family so it will be great to see everyone getting on and taking in the sights of Vegas together and watching some great rugby league.

“I think it is just good for the whole sport to have the Super League and NRL working together on one big occasion because we all have the same goal of growing the game.”