Collingwood’s Mason Cox admits he is a little bit jealous of the NRL.
His envy is in relation to the pair of rugby league matches being held in Las Vegas to kick off the 2024 NRL season in March.
After the AFL released its plans for ‘Opening Round’, which will host games in Queensland and New South Wales, Cox took to social media to poke a bit of fun at the situation.
Regarding Collingwood’s first-game trip to Giants Stadium to take on GWS, Cox posted the following: “Round 1 NRL goes to Las Vegas. AFL premiers go to … A showground for livestock.”
It created a social media storm which even evoked a response from GWS CEO Dave Matthews.
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Cox had no intention of blowing things up, he was merely saying something he felt was true.
“I didn’t realise there were that many people paying attention to it,” he said on SEN 1170.
“I was here in Vegas and woke up the next morning and people had kind of lost their mind.
“I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true, I don’t think. It was just showing the difference of what the NRL is trying compared to what the AFL is doing at the moment.
“I’m always trying to push the initiative to do something here in America. I saw what the NRL was doing and I was a bit jealous, I’m not going to lie.
“So I just put that out and it kind of became its own monster.”
The premiership Magpie, a Texas native, believes the NRL have one-upped the AFL in this instance.
Cox feels there will be plenty of interest from American and ex-pat Aussies in rugby league and expects the scenes in Vegas to be “iconic”
“You’ve topped us here and hopefully we can match you at some point and play a game over here in the US,” he added.
“Allegiant Stadium where the Las Vegas Raiders play is a pretty spectacular place. It’s going to be pretty iconic scenes seeing the NRL come over here and playing in such a big stadium in front of hopefully a big crowd.
“I think people will love it.
“Rugby has really kind of taken off here in the last five to 10 years.
“Every time you ask an American of they know what AFL is, they say, ‘That’s rugby, right?’.
“So, they’ve got a bit of a better connection to the audience here at the moment. Hopefully I can be one person who tries to change that.
“It will be a great spectacle to see NRL here in America.”
The Manly Sea Eagles v South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Sydney Roosters v Brisbane Broncos are the two NRL fixtures taking place in Las Vegas on March 3 in 2024.