Catalans trial American Football player

[TRF_Olyy]

University of Alabama running back Brent Calloway on a week long gym-trial with Catalans, with a decision to be made at the end as to whether he'll get a longer trial.
http://www.catalansdragons.com/en/articles-9/97-3018-un-joueur-de-foot-us-a-l-essai/

This could be interesting - I think American Footballers will take to League quicker than union, especially a running back.
With his stats he could make a great 2nd/back row, or maybe even a power house centre.

I think a big part of it will be seeing where he is with his overall cardio fitness. Obviously he's a very fast sprinter, but how does he fair without the minute or so of rest between plays?

 

[Muse_Cubed]

I've always wanted to see how people can convert between the two sports - as Samu Manoa has shown (former quarterback in college), it's doable although I wonder how long it would take in terms of developing the basic skills. I do agree that league would be easier to pick up and play than union though. As for the fitness, I do think that AF players need to lose ~10-15 % of their playing weight to play rugby - I remember Dhani Jones briefly turned out for Blackheath as part of a TV show...he said the fitness aspect was the hardest (even though he only played 15 minutes) when you're shifting that much extra weight over a long period of time.

 

[Groundhog]

I've always wanted to see how people can convert between the two sports - as Samu Manoa has shown (former quarterback in college), it's doable although I wonder how long it would take in terms of developing the basic skills. I do agree that league would be easier to pick up and play than union though. As for the fitness, I do think that AF players need to lose ~10-15 % of their playing weight to play rugby - I remember Dhani Jones briefly turned out for Blackheath as part of a TV show...he said the fitness aspect was the hardest (even though he only played 15 minutes) when you're shifting that much extra weight over a long period of time.

Dear god, Quarterback really doesn't translate to what Manoa does now. Not massively transferable skills, I think Manoa is just a physical freak. I think a strong running back who is used to working in tight margins and grafting hard yards with evasion and hard running is well suited to league though, as I'd think areas like the breakdown and flow of a union game would be the biggest barrier to Football players.
How are those two Collegiate guys getting on in Bristol does anyone know?

 

[SelimNiai]

Manu. A QB? Bloody hell.

I too think League would suit a RB more so interested how he gets on, on a similar note we had/have 2 College players on trail, once scored a brace in his first ever game of Union

 

[Saints1]

Lets see how fit he really is!

 

[SelimNiai]

Lets see how fit he really is!

He'll be fit stamina-wise. Alabama have pretty much a pro set up in how theyre coached, its why so many of their players get drafted. Think the test is will he be fit when the contact starts in a way he may not be used to.

Good luck to him

 

[Saints1]

That's fine mate but the NFL is a very different intensity to rugby league or rugby union for that matter. I would argue that you have to be super fit to play league more so than an awful lot of sports. I'm sure he's athletic and all that but can he drive a ball up and get back into a line ten back for 80 minutes with little break in play?

I hope so - because signings like this would be good for rugby league.

 

[jeffb]

We had a American Footballer in the 60's, Chuck Wiseman was his name, think he only had two games

 

[4x4niner]

University of Alabama running back Brent Calloway on a week long gym-trial with Catalans, with a decision to be made at the end as to whether he'll get a longer trial.
http://www.catalansdragons.com/en/articles-9/97-3018-un-joueur-de-foot-us-a-l-essai/

This could be interesting - I think American Footballers will take to League quicker than union, especially a running back.
With his stats he could make a great 2nd/back row, or maybe even a power house centre.

I think a big part of it will be seeing where he is with his overall cardio fitness. Obviously he's a very fast sprinter, but how does he fair without the minute or so of rest between plays?

It will be a working adjustment, play him for 10-20 minutes in between halves and just keep working on his endurance, I do now believe that both codes can crossover with alot of adjustments and prep, it can be done.

 

[4x4niner]

football codes crossover

As a fan of the 49ers watching jarryd hayne has shown many that crossing codes both ways can be done, the main problem with NFL players is the psychological idea of not being able to wear protective gear, once that is overcome, the necessary indurance and skill traits of rugby codes can be taught effectively over time. Watch how unique some abilities can be imported over from another sport. Now the other way round is wearing pads and helmet that difficult to dplay in? Yes and no, it takes skill and time to play and get used to wearing a helmet, hayne came naturally to using one in preseason, that is one of the least difficult but a difficult nuisance to adjust to, this determines if you are going to be a standard american football player, reading the plays and understanding your particular tasks and determined route and thats not even touching the main points of NFL.

 

[4x4niner]

We had a American Footballer in the 60's, Chuck Wiseman was his name, think he only had two games

There have been more recent than that and have had succeses and failures in the NRL, in the 80's and 90's.