There are finishes that linger for all the wrong reasons, and the LA Roosters have found themselves in that uncomfortable territory for the second year in a row. Their Vegas 9s semi-final against United Sporting Club ended in fury on Friday night local time, after a United player dropped to the ground claiming a knee injury with less than two minutes remaining and stayed there for roughly 90 seconds, effectively running down the clock while the Roosters trailed 16-14.
Under the NRL's Nines competition rules, there are no stoppages regardless of injury, given that each half runs for just nine minutes. But sources with knowledge of the incident, who were not authorised to speak publicly, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Roosters players and staff were incensed when the United player promptly jumped to his feet and played the ball right on full-time. The opportunity to mount a late attack, and with it any realistic chance of reaching Sunday's grand final at Allegiant Stadium, had evaporated.
It is the second consecutive Vegas event to end in acrimony for the Roosters. Last year, chairman Nick Politis was accused of abusing a match official, which triggered an NRL investigation. Politis declined to comment on this latest incident. He has remained one of the most committed figures in rugby league's push into the American market, and his silence on the matter may reflect a desire to protect that project rather than inflame it further.
The club has since formally asked the NRL to review stoppage rules ahead of future Nines events. The governing body is understood to be receptive to those discussions, which suggests the incident has at least prompted some institutional reflection about how the competition's unique format can be gamed.
The Roosters were coached by club favourite Luke Keary, a three-time premiership winner, who spoke warmly about young New Zealand prop Kanaan Magele despite the result. Magele, who trialled with the NRL squad a fortnight ago, will play NSW Cup this year and appears to be on the radar for bigger things. The Roosters were also operating well below full strength, having lost four players to the USA Test team during the week ahead of their match against Scotland on Friday night local time.
United Sporting Club's squad had its own points of interest. David Fifita, the twin brother of former NSW and Cronulla prop Andrew Fifita, featured prominently. The younger Fifita normally plays for the Kincumber Colts in the Central Coast competition and coaches the Wests Tigers' Tarsha Gale Cup side. He will now play in Sunday's men's grand final against the Titans of Coal, led by former Papua New Guinea Kumuls captain Kyle Laybutt, who were the 2025 Vegas 9s champions.
Fifita will share Sunday's occasion with childhood friend Matt Lodge, who has been named on an extended bench for the North Queensland Cowboys in their NRL season opener against the Newcastle Knights. Fifita reportedly wasted no time asking Lodge for video footage of the Nines win for the group chats.
The women's competition provided considerably brighter news for the Roosters. Despite losing their opening pool game to the Nesian Gummas 26-12, the side rebounded to finish second in their group and secure a grand final berth against the Australian Vegas Angels. Millie Elliott was back on the field for the first time since giving birth last September, balancing playing duties with media commitments including work in the commentary box for Triple M and Nine. The squad also included Jess Sergis, Corban Baxter, Rima Butler, Otesa Pule, Brydie Parker and Jasmin Strange.
The broader tournament picture was encouraging. The Vegas 9s grew from 34 to 46 teams this year, with more than half of those sides representing the US and England. That trajectory matters to those invested in rugby league's international ambitions. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players were spotted holding an impromptu stretching session in a sixth-floor hallway at Resorts World on Friday, and later walked the turf at Allegiant Stadium, the $2 billion, 65,000-seat venue that will host Sunday's NRL round-one double header.
Canterbury major sponsor and newly minted radio mogul Arthur Laundy has taken a suite at Allegiant Stadium for family and friends. His son Craig, a former federal MP, flew in from Palm Springs and offered a considered view on where the NRL should focus its American expansion beyond Las Vegas, suggesting New Orleans and New York as cities with the scale and appetite to generate genuine local interest. His point about Vegas's crowded entertainment calendar, competing against stadium concerts and residencies, is one the NRL's commercial team would do well to sit with.
The controversy of Friday's semi-final will not derail the overall event, and the Roosters themselves would likely acknowledge that. But the debate it has reopened about the Nines format is legitimate. A competition that can be won partly through clock management via a feigned injury is one that invites scepticism. Whether the NRL moves to address it will say something about how seriously the governing body takes both the integrity of the format and the game's reputation on an international stage where it is still earning its credibility.