Thanks for the link/comment. I'm over here temporarily, and trying to contribute a bit while I can with the Avalanche.
We're all looking to forward to heading over to Philly. I think it will be tough going and probably a bit of a wake-up call, with most players not having played league before (only union), and just the expense involved in getting everyone we'd like there, but there's definitely a good vibe about league here.
Without trying to get ahead of ourselves, I personally think in the not too distant future Utah will be a boom state for league. There's a lot of advantages. A large Polynesian community; lots of rugby (union) being played (Highland Rugby, BYU Rugby, Utah Warriors etc); and a central location in the West for matches against teams from California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Seattle etc. Also the coach/founder, George Tupou, has heaps of league experience and connections in Australia, but is strongly tied to Utah with a lot of local connections. Finally he's promoting a good, clean form of the game, in contrast to a lot of the fighting etc that goes on at some levels of rugby here.
There's obviously plenty of challenges too, like the competition from rugby, and just the fight to afford the basics like jumpers. But, it's exciting times. I guess a lot in this forum have been through it in seeing an idea take hold and grow, but it does remind you what league's all about! I'm looking forward to staying involved, and sticking around here in one form or another.
