Watch all three games of Rugby League in Las Vegas live and ad-break free during play is Fox League, available on Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n That maybe, as the game gets faster, bigger bodies are slowly being lost to it.<\/p>\n Even the new interchange rules, which have extended benches and allowed coaches to be more creative with the make-up of their team, may not be enough. <\/p>\n Instead, all the talk is about how coaches can use specialist back-up halves or fullbacks as opposed to using bigger forwards as impact players in short spurts off the bench.<\/p>\n In the modern game, where the six-again rule has resulted in fewer stoppages and a faster pace of play, props like Fonua-Blake worry for the future of bigger-bodied players.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way they are making the game at the moment, it\u2019s very hard for blokes like us to stay in the game,\u201d he told foxsports.com.au in January. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re taking the collisions out, so in a few more years, there probably won\u2019t be a need for bigger bodies like us in their game.\u201d <\/p>\n To some extent, the impact is already being felt in grassroots rugby league and as the NRL heads to Sin City for a third year, it doesn\u2019t have to look far for proof of it. <\/p>\n Las Vegas Raiders rookie Laki Tasi grew up playing both rugby league and union, before Ben Niumata \u2014 owner of Grubbies Burgers & Hawaiian BBQ in Brisbane \u2014 suggested he try make it in the NFL.<\/p>\n Get all the latest news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports NRL Sportmail. Sign up now!!! <\/a><\/p>\n Queensland rugby product Laki Tasi was signed by the Las Vegas Raiders.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n \u201cI found him just playing club rugby in Queensland,\u201d Zen Ginnen, Tasi\u2019s agent and the founder of Ginnen Sports Management Group, told foxsports.com.au earlier this week.<\/p>\n Niumata put Tasi in touch with Ginnen, who encouraged the now Raiders offensive tackle to try out for the NFL Academy in the Gold Coast with the hope of eventually earning selection for the league\u2019s International Pathway Program.<\/p>\n It was the same program that had been the starting point of Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata\u2019s rise to Super Bowl stardom, and while there was never any expectation that Tasi would follow in Mailata\u2019s footsteps and become one of the best players at his position, he at least had the size and raw tools to be an intriguing NFL prospect.<\/p>\n Intriguing enough that Tasi had multiple teams express interest in him after the IPP\u2019s Pro Day at the University of South Florida, with the Australian eventually signing a contract to join the Raiders under Super Bowl-winning coach Pete Carroll.<\/p>\n Carroll even singled out Tasi as his \u201cfavourite\u201d player to watch in training camp.<\/p>\n \u201cHe knows nothing about football when he walked in the door, and he\u2019s made tremendous progress, and he\u2019s enormous,\u201d Carroll told reporters last year.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the biggest guy you ever saw… I don\u2019t know how long it\u2019s going to take, but he\u2019s starting from ground zero, and he\u2019s made a lot of progress so far.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE NRL NEWS<\/p>\n MCKINNON: Why Knights\u2019 $13m gamble can work; \u2018bloody scary\u2019 Broncos reality<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018BUY OR SELL\u2019: Final verdict on Broncos saga; what\u2019s real in Eels hype<\/a><\/p>\n Burton unleashes 110ft bomb in Vegas! | 00:09<\/p>\n Having worked with the likes of Asofa-Solomona and Fifita, Ginnen knows all too well how the new-look NRL is starting to leave bigger bodies behind.<\/p>\n \u201cThe size is definitely (having) an impact,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve told me many times that the sport\u2019s becoming not really a big man\u2019s sport, it\u2019s becoming a lot quicker and it\u2019s hard for the bigger guys such as Nelson to try and get lower… how low can he go without getting in trouble, that\u2019s probably one factor. <\/p>\n \u201cWhere big boys are now suited to play this foreign sport, such as football, and it\u2019s suited for them. People like Jordan Mailata, just size-wise, it\u2019s a perfect sport for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Jarrod Gray, like Mailata, came through the South Sydney system as a junior and is following a similar pathway to Super Bowl champion, having grown up around the Bankstown area and initially chased a rugby league career before realising he was too big for the sport.<\/p>\n Gray progressed as high as Queensland Cup level, playing for Toowoomba-based Western Clydesdales, before packing his stuff up and moving back home to work with renowned fitness and speed trainer Michael Fualalo when an opportunity came up to try out for the IPP.<\/p>\n \u201cThat (the speed of the game) was a big factor for me,\u201d Gray told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n \u201cQueensland Cup, that\u2019s a high level of rugby league. I\u2019m a big body, there\u2019s not many people out there that are my size that are playing rugby league. <\/p>\n \u201cFor me, the game was too fast and the game\u2019s only going to get faster. I believe if you\u2019re not the next Payne Haas or Pat Carrigan, if you\u2019re not as fit as them, it\u2019s going to be hard. <\/p>\n \u201cSo, that was a big factor for me. With my size, I knew I wasn\u2019t built for the game. That\u2019s when I made the move.\u201d<\/p>\n Not just interstate but to another country, joining one of Ginnen\u2019s clients \u2014 Kaylan Faumui \u2014 at X3 Performance and Physical Therapy in Florida as part of the IPP.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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