LeagueNews.co | Cooper McEnroe
The NRL's ad for next year's season opener in Las Vegas arrived to much fanfare on Wednesday - however one crucial detail has been exposed as a lie.
The NRL will sell rugby league to America with images of thunderous hits and startling body contact, and everything else that gets you three weeks at the tribunal.
That was the takeaway from yesterday's launch of the US ad campaign for next year's Las Vegas season opener, with the NRL promising Americans blood and guts despite knowing it'll be mostly surrender tackles and Aaron Woods.
Take nothing away from the 30 second taster, which you can watch above, a stirring montage that exhibits all the hyperventilating Vossy and Nutri-Grain font you'd expect in a standard new-market rugby league primer.
But while it nailed the brief for spectacular 'touchdowns' and the obligatory boast of "no pads and no helmets", the rest of the footage is mainly just penalties.
Yes, the collisions advertised are absolute bellringers that radiate enough physicality to burn a week's calories, but sadly they are rare in today's gluten-free version of the game.