Flanno made a $5m statement \u2026 but a roster \u2018concern\u2019 could set them back<\/a><\/p>\nThen after a pause, the Fox Sports analyst tossed up one more name.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell what,\u201d he said, \u201cthere is another bloke, and that\u2019s Fletcher Sharpe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWearing the six, mate, he\u2019s just at them all the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo while he may not be the biggest character of the weekend, I do think he could be the best player.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s sensational.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember last year at Magic Round too, I was doing the form with my son Jack and said, it\u2019s a dry track \u2013 or at least it was at the time \u2013 South Sydney were struggling, so I said \u2018Jack, back the Knights to win and Fletcher for three tries or more\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we do, then go off to lunch. And forgot about the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time we checked back in, he\u2019d scored two tries in the first 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said \u2018right, we\u2019ve gotta cash out\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Jack says \u2018no dad, don\u2019t do it\u2019 \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
And guess what?<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 65th minute he scored again,\u201d Johns laughed. \u201cHonestly, it was even better than winning the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paid well then?<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, 250\/1,\u201d Johns grinned. \u201cI\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 26: Fletcher Sharpe of the Knights greets fans during a NRL fan event at the Freemont Street Experience on February 26, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, fellow Fox Sports analyst Tallis is also picking North Queensland\u2019s Dearden to win Americans over, while also placing him in a Las Vegas quinella with fellow Cowboy Reuben Cotter.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Reuben Cotter just goes around hitting everyone,\u201d Tallis laughed of how he wins the Yanks over. \u201cAnd better, the guy looks like he\u2019s from Alabama.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got that wonderful southern haircut. Straight off Swamp People.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what he did with the Kangaroos recently \u2014 incredible.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust hit the ground running and change the momentum in some of those Test matches like he did, I got a whole new respect for the way he plays the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked why his two picks are best suited to selling the game to Americans, Tallis continued: \u201cI know our thing is no helmets, no pads.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what can also really sell rugby league over here is the fact it\u2019s for everybody.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s why I think Reuben Cotter can have an impact, and also somebody like Tommy Dearden<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Americans already know they\u2019re coming to watch a tough game, saying \u2018oh, man, you crazy Aussies\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when they see Dearden?<\/p>\n
\u201cA little guy with red hair \u2013 or strawberry blond as he prefers to say \u2013 I really think that makes him somebody who can sell our game here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atrio of Fox League experts believe Tom Dearden and Kalyn Ponga will impress American audiences this weekend.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Cronk, meanwhile, says Kikau is his pick to win the Americans over, saying simply: \u201cHe has a wild haircut to go with his big hits and try scoring ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Tallis said the players he was most intrigued to watch were Ponga and Bulldogs young gun Lachie Galvin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was more noise about Galvin last year than any other player,\u201d Tallis continued. \u201cAnd while some of that was fair, some wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s just what happens when you get into that situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now \u2019m really keen to see what sort of style he plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year he got thrown in the deep end, so everyone will be watching.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Ponga?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile South Sydney may be Pride of the League, Newcastle are something like our code\u2019s heartbeat,\u201d Tallis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they need to have a great season.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd whether Kalyn likes it or not, he\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously Dylan Brown can take some pressure off, specially if he plays like he did in the Pacific Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause until now it\u2019s always been KP\u2019s ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if Kalyn can get people around him to take some pressure off, take some opportunities, that will obviously help. And Dylan has a great running game, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalfback, five-eighth, doesn\u2019t matter where he is. Dylan just needs to play and open up the field for Kalyn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matty Johns reckons Canterbury skipper Stephen Crichton is the NRL superstar best equipped to sell rugby league to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[255082,2095,255085,132136,64,63,689,255084,11101,763,30193,255081,14595,2623,254742,18656,761,762,2627,673,4495,2782,2041,2067,158,677,159,252082,130926,33195,85,255083,670,776,252307,255080,2614],"class_list":{"0":"post-508581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-6-fletcher-sharpe","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-american-audiences","11":"tag-american-fans","12":"tag-au","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","15":"tag-bulldogs-stephen-crichton","16":"tag-cooper-cronk","17":"tag-fox-league","18":"tag-gorden-tallis","19":"tag-guy-looks","20":"tag-jack","21":"tag-las-vegas","22":"tag-matt-nable","23":"tag-matty-johns","24":"tag-national-rugby-league","25":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","26":"tag-nevada","27":"tag-new-south-wales","28":"tag-newcastle-knights","29":"tag-nick-walshaw","30":"tag-north-america","31":"tag-northern-america","32":"tag-nrl","33":"tag-oceania","34":"tag-rugby-league","35":"tag-rugby-league-las-vegas","36":"tag-running-game","37":"tag-season-opener","38":"tag-sports","39":"tag-strawberry-blond","40":"tag-sydney","41":"tag-tom-dearden","42":"tag-tommy-dearden","43":"tag-try-scoring-ability","44":"tag-united-states-of-america"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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