Hoping to the find the next Jarryd Hayne, who earned a spot on the 49ers’ 53-man roster, the NFL may hold combines in Australia in the coming future.
Mark Waller, the NFL’s international executive vice president, told the Sydney Morning Herald recently that he could envision the league holding a scouting combine in Australia at some point.
“It’s odd because we have a very good system in the U.S. — the Combine. That mechanic is a great way for providing a very clear focal point. It lays out very clearly what the skill requirements are, and in recent years we’ve extended the Combine from a single event to a series of regional events that lead into the Combine itself,” Waller said. “It would seem logical to start with ‘well I wonder if there’s an extension of the Combine that we ought to look at’ that could look at bringing in athletes from elsewhere or holding a combines in some other markets. Should we extend that thinking maybe we need a global infrastructure and maybe we test it initially in a couple of markets. Maybe Australia would be a good market to test it in.”
In 2012, the NFL started holding regional combines all over the country. With Hayne now on the 49ers roster, Waller said the league would like to make sure foreign talent is slipping through the cracks.
By Glenn Erby
