Canterbury Bulldogs chief executive Aaron Warburton was sitting in a quiet corner of a Las Vegas bar when the tears came. It took less than ten minutes of conversation before the weight of what he witnessed on December 14 at Bondi Beach became too much to hold back.
Warburton, a Bondi resident, had a close and horrifying view of the terror attack that killed 15 people in what authorities have since described as an antisemitic massacre. The attack is now the subject of a royal commission. His proximity to the violence is not widely known.
"A minute after putting our groceries down that day, Britt and I heard a bang," Warburton said. "I looked outside and I could see what looked like old men wrestling. I said, there is a guy with a gun, and then I said there is two of them."
His balcony sits roughly 50 metres from the bridge where police say Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram carried out the shooting. Sajid was killed by police at the scene. Naveed has since been charged with almost 60 offences, including 15 counts of murder.
"They killed those poor people on our doorstep," Warburton said. "Britt and I were at home with our son. It was like any Sunday in summer. We don't have a plan and we are often in that park or at the beach because it's our backyard."
He described watching a figure in white pants walk up onto the bridge to join another shooter, neither of whom he initially understood to be related. When he and Britt tried to call police, they could not get through. His response was to start filming, believing he had an angle that investigators would need.
"I didn't know what they were aiming at, but he had obviously a very, very clear target," he said. "I was in shock. Britt was telling me to get down and she was screaming and it seemed to go on forever, the continuous shooting."
Police have since reviewed the footage, including vision Warburton describes as material no one else would have captured from that position. He remains in contact with investigators.
The days that followed were, in some respects, harder than the attack itself. Warburton broke down most visibly when describing the psychological weight of the weeks after December 14, as media and community commemorations marked each passing interval.
"The first week was probably the lowest, but when they kept doing seven days since it happened, 14 days, it was like it was still all there," he said. "That was hard. It felt overwhelming and overpowering, literally, like it won't go away."
He credits the Bondi community with providing some relief from that weight. In the days following the attack, he observed neighbours and strangers drawing closer together in ways that rarely happen in ordinary times.
"You hate when something so terrible has to take place to get the community to bind together a bit more," he said. "That's the only good to come from something so bad."
Warburton also acknowledged the support of the Bulldogs organisation, which offered him counselling and gave him the space to process his experience. "The Bulldogs club has been unbelievable in the way they have supported me," he said.
The Parliament of Australia has since moved to establish a royal commission into the attack. For those directly in its path, including residents like Warburton who watched it happen from their own homes, formal inquiries offer some hope of accountability, but do little to ease the private grief that lingers long after the cameras leave.
Peters in frame for PNG Chiefs role
Beyond the sombre reflection on December's events, there is plenty of rugby league business being conducted in Las Vegas this week. Willie Peters has emerged as a leading candidate to become the inaugural coach of the Papua New Guinea Chiefs when they enter the NRL competition in 2028, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Peters has overseen a remarkable turnaround at English club Hull KR and recently guided them to victory in the World Club Challenge against the Brisbane Broncos. He has indicated an openness to discussions about the PNG role, saying he holds an ambition to take charge as a head coach at NRL level.
The appointment, however, rests with the Australian Rugby League Commission, not with PNG's recently appointed general manager Michael Chammas.
NRL's US ambitions face a reality check
The Las Vegas experiment continues to deliver a compelling fan experience for the thousands of Australians and English supporters who make the trip each year. The atmosphere is hard to replicate. The logistics are a genuine achievement. But the competition's broader ambition of cracking the American market is progressing more slowly than NRL headquarters had hoped.
The clearest signal came from the Fox network, which opted to broadcast NASCAR rather than the NRL matches on its free-to-air channel. Matches remain accessible on Fox's pay platform, but without free-to-air reach, building a casual American audience becomes significantly harder.
ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has been vocal about expanding the NRL's global footprint further, flagging Wembley Stadium in London as a potential next target. Whether those ambitions translate into lasting commercial outcomes remains an open question, but the direction of travel is clear enough.
Back in the gym, back in the bar, and back on the training paddock, the NRL's Las Vegas week rolls on. For Aaron Warburton, though, the conversations this week have carried a weight that no amount of sporting success can easily lift. His club is having one of its better weeks in years. His city is still healing from one of its worst days.