Canterbury players Jake Averillo, Declan Casey and Jayden Okunbor were among those who got an up-close look at life behind the camera, paying a special visit to Channel 9's inner sanctum on their day off.
The visit was arranged by the Club's education department as a continuation of a photography and videography course that the players had been undertaking in their time-off from footy, helping them to build skills for a post-football career.
As a special insight into the inner workings of the Nine Network, producers and staff took the time to welcome the Bulldogs, with sports reporter Emma Lawrence even walking the team through an NRL story she had been working on. The special glimpses gave the players a much better understanding of the work that goes into producing the NRL coverage, as well as provided a great insight into some post-football career prospects.
The players were given a tour of the studio, sat in to listen into some live match commentary before joining the panel to experience first-hand what it feels like to be presenting from the NRL newsdesk.
Late last year, the players were treated to a special photography and content course, delivered in conjunction with the Elite Athlete Business School (EABS), the Brand Builders and NRL award-winning chief photographer, Grant 'Chucky' Trouville.
Trouville was on deck at Belmore to teach the players tips and tricks in a possible career path post rugby league. The course went so well, that it is now offered as an EABS regular course option.
With the players excited and eager to learn more, Okunbor, Averillo and Casey expressed their interest to Bulldogs club career coach Renee Liddy, to continue expanding their skill set and learn more about videography and editing.
With Liddy's guidance, they enrolled to undertake a club-led videography and editing workshop program.
At the completion of the workshops, the players were welcomed to Channel 9 for their exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the all the careers that exist within media and sports coverage.
"It was crazy - I didn't realise how much went on the behind the scenes," said Bulldogs winger Declan Casey.
"Even when we went into the commentary box and Joey [Andrew Johns], Billy [Slater] and Thommo [Matt Thompson] were calling live, you see them tap on each other and share information on what they might say or ask. Their analysis of the game, they are so good at what they do and once they are live they go into full professional mode. Then you have the person doing stats and feeding them information.
"We got to see them prepping for live crosses, and they did one while we there with JT [Jonathon Thurston] over in Townsville for thirty seconds and then boom, they'll be back on air straight away.
"I honestly didn't realise how many people actually work there and the fact that it is 24-seven. I sort of understood that there was always news, but how many people are actually there covering it. It's amazing to see the amount of people that have jobs there and all the effort that goes into one little moment or segment. It was so fun and interesting to see."
Fullback Jake Averillo agreed, saying he had a new appreciation for the production crew behind the footy:
"It was really good to see what goes in to producing the NRL for viewers at home," he said.
"As players, we don't get to see that side of things. We go out, we have a job to do and we are solely focused on playing our best and on winning each week. I had no idea how much work actually goes in to helping fans watch and enjoy the game.
"It was an unreal experience."
While the players will leave the award-winning coverage to the broadcast specialists for now, they have expressed their gratitude to Channel 9 for a warm welcome, and to the Club for helping to facilitate the visit and their on-going studies.
