Matt Burton threw petrol on the flame of a possible move to the NFL after his first game on American soil in Las Vegas.
Burton’s booming kicking game – which he used to good effect in the Bulldogs’ nail-biting golden point win over the luckless Dragons – already had American scouts interested in his services.
And Burton admitted after the game that a potential switch to American football was something he had been thinking about.
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“If anything popped up, I would look at it,” Burton said after his team’s narrow win.
“I feel I could do it (play in the NFL).
“It’s more technical than league and I would have to study it, but I feel I could have a crack at it.”
Matt Burton and Jacob Preston embrace during the Bulldogs’ win in Las Vegas. NRL Imagery
Knights no longer a one-man band
One of Justin Holbrook’s main reasons for bringing new halves Dylan Brown and Sandon Smith to the Knights was to take the heat off marquee man Kalyn Ponga.
And it worked a treat in the team’s outing on the big stage in Vegas as the Knights claimed their first victory in an NRL game in 253 long days.
Every member of the new-look spine – Brown, Smith and Fletcher Sharpe (until he was injured) – had their moments in attack.
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But more importantly, the Knights are no longer a one-man band and rival teams will have to do more than shut down Ponga to come up with wins.
And Ponga appreciated having the pressure off his shoulders, picking his times to make an impact as he carved up the Cowboys defence with his incisive running.
“We wanted Kalyn to feel like he didn’t need to have a huge impact,” Holbrook confirmed afterwards.
“He trained on his own (because of injury) for most of the summer and to play 80 minutes the way he did was outstanding.”
NRL old boys light up Vegas
Three old NRL boys stole the show as Leeds humbled World Club champions Hull KR 58-6 in the curtain-raiser in Vegas.
The Rhinos made a mockery of Hull’s new title as champions of the league universe after their defeat of the Broncos with an upset win.
And leading the way were former Eels favourite Maika Sivo and ex-Broncos and Storm halfback Brodie Croft, who bagged six tries between them.
Sivo, in only his second game for Leeds after missing all of 2025 with a knee reconstruction, showed the form that made him a crowd favourite at Parramatta Stadium for so many years with a scintillating display, powering over for try after try.
And Croft, playing at five-eighth, looked better than many current NRL playmakers with two tries and a hand in several others.
The third former NRL mainstay, ex-Eels coach Brad Arthur, pushed his claims for a return to Oz by masterminding Leeds’ stunning win.
The underdogs were always a step ahead of the world champions and Arthur’s quick-out-of-the-blocks game plan was instrumental in that.
Payten’s blunt admission
Conceding the first two tries in each half cost the Cowboys dearly against the Knights – and it’s a habit they have to get out of quickly if they want to win games in 2026.
“The start of both halves was very poor,” coach Todd Payten conceded.
“We need to be better.”
The Cowboys fought back both times but in the end it proved too little, too late in a poor start to the season.
Any chance the Cowboys had evaporated late in the game when winger Braidon Burns was sin-binned for a high shot on Ponga.
But Payten was fuming that Knights veteran Tyson Frizell wasn’t binned for an alleged hip-drop tackle that put Thomas Mikaele out of the game in the first half – and out for six weeks with a knee injury.
“It should have been a sin-bin, for sure,” Payten said.