Dyldam Parramatta Eels forward David Gower says he’s been blown away by the facilities of the football sides in the United States, after stepping out for the side’s first field session.
The players were put through fitness testing on the FieldTurf surface of Husky Stadium at the University of Washington, which hosts the Huskies college football team.
“It’s a very impressive facility, and our first session back for pre-season while we’re over here, and there are definitely a few tired boys out there, but it’s great to get one under our belt,” Gower said.
“It’s just on a completely different level and scale to what we’ve got back in Australia.”
“It’s a 70,000 seat stadium and the gym is like nothing we’ve ever seen before, so just impressive, I don’t know another word for it!”
Gower says it’s been great to get a glimpse of how successful sides in the United States prepare for their games, and the level of professionalism involved.
“My jaw dropped a lot, actually,” he said.
“It’s a college game, it’s amateur; and they get 70,000 here as a crowd and the gym is three times the size of ours in Parramatta, it’s incredible.”
The players are halfway through their learning and training trip to Seattle, which has doubled as a bonding session for the team at the start of the new season.
“It’s been great, we’ve got a lot of new faces this year and it’s good to get to know them on personal level and also to get combinations with them, so we’re starting to knuckle down with our training and have a big week ahead,” Gower said.
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