Journalist JOE PREVEDELLO was one of the 45,000 fans at the massive Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas when the Canberra Raiders stepped into the spotlight.

A few years ago – and not long after Singapore Airlines started flying directly to Canberra – I was lucky enough to be on a Visit Canberra tourism mission to the Lion City. 

Ahead of my return home at Changi Airport, I remember looking up at the enormous departure board in the terminal and seeing  CANBERRA  right up there alongside the likes of London, Paris, Tokyo and Los Angeles – great cities of the world – and I thought, our proud, little Australian capital has made it on the world stage. 

It was a similar feeling this past week to be on the ground and see our own Canberra Raiders take centre stage for the start of the NRL season in Las Vegas. 

Once again, this was Canberra on display to the world.

On Sunday (Saturday afternoon in Nevada) the Raiders made a big statement in the NRL season opener – trouncing the New Zealand Warriors 30 to 8 and leaving many fans across the NRL wondering if the Green Machine could be destined for big things this season. 

For me, the performance showcased a team of genuine NRL premiership contenders.

The line-up of matches at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium was a fitting end to a terrific few days for fans and rugby league in general in the place affectionately termed Sin City. 

Over the past week fans from Australia, NZ, the UK, other parts of the US and certainly other countries converged on this desert party town and created an atmosphere that was nothing short of an international celebration of rugby league. 

They came from Sydney, Canberra, Auckland and Wellington to Warrington and Wigan in England’s north and many other places where the game is played, watched and admired. 

You couldn’t move along the famous Las Vegas strip without running into thousands of people wearing team jerseys of every colour.

Then there was Freemont Street in the heart of Old Las Vegas that literally turned into rugby league central as fans drank large cups of beer and reveled in the atmosphere. 

It’s fair to ask whether this second instalment of the NRL’s five-year deal to take season-opening matches to Las Vegas has made big inroads in attracting the interest of more Americans to the NRL given this year’s crowd figure of 45,209 was only about 5000 more than the first-round Vegas hit-out last year. However, that still about a 10 per cent increase and garnering support takes time.

It was interesting to meet different people who were here. Before the weekend, at a local casino bar, I met Rod from Cleveland, Ohio. Can you believe Rod was a long-term Canberra Raiders supporter who had made the 3000-kilometre trip to Nevada for the week. 

A born and bred American, he started following the Raiders in the 1990s and even ventured “down under” to Bruce Stadium in the early 2000s for a local NRL game. 

I found it curious that someone from near the birthplace and heartland of American gridiron would be so interested in our game, but Rod said his interest had come from a local group of guys in his area, one originally from Yorkshire in England, that started playing and following rugby league as a weekend hobby.

There were a lot of people, of course, from Canberra and regional NSW who made the journey like me – and well done to them because everyone certainly had a good time. 

Seeking global reach is the next frontier for big sporting codes like the NRL.

It was certainly something to be proud of as a Canberra local to watch the Raiders win in the foreground of famous Las Vegas hotels and the Mojave Desert beyond them.

The NRL season opener 2025 will go down as another win for our city, our little Australian Capital, making its way on the world stage.

Journalist Joe Prevedello calls rugby league for 2CC.