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Warriors coach Tony Kemp believes his club can learn a lot from the professionalism of the NFL after spending some time with the San Diego Chargers recently.
Kemp went to the United States to study the systems the Chargers use as his Warriors side begins their off-season training programme.
"I basically went over there to do a bit of study on the NFL systems and structures and it worked out pretty well," Kemp told ONE Sport.
"The NFL isn't too much unlike rugby league. It is a very confrontational sport. It is designed through salary caps and player recruitment to bring a product to the playing field that the public like. And the way the San Diego Chargers handled that process is very impressive."
Kemp was welcomed into the club, who allowed him access to anyone he wanted to chat to, including some of the big names in North American sport.
"I got to spend some time with Marty Schottenheimer [Chargers head coach], who is reputably the best coach to coach in the league and is still doing so.
"The club San Diego, were really good at giving me the opportunity to sit down and talk to certain blokes within their club to see different ways and different systems they put in place we could implement over here at the Warriors."
The main thing Kemp picked up was the out and out professionalism that the NFL club had.
It is a much larger-scale business than the NRL, with junior programmes, football projects, medical and conditioning staff, coaches - and plenty of them, administrators and owners all having their part to play in the overall scheme of things.
"In one word - professionalism," said. "The whole professional set-up right through their medical staff, their conditioning staff, their footballing staff and administration staff was something I haven't seen before and I learnt a hell of a lot out of it.
The Chargers have had a dream start to their season as well, sitting in playoff contention at the halfway mark of the regular season despite most experts predicting another lean year.
"They are not too dissimilar from us," Kemp explained.
"They had an up and down season last year. Marty (Schottenheimer) has come back with some new ideas and hired some new assistant coaches - it would be nice to have 16 like he does - but they have put in new systems and football structures and it is good to see them going so well because you do tend to have some vested interest in them after spending some time there."
With new assistant coaches Ivan Cleary and Kevin Campion in New Zealand already, Kemp will be hoping the Warriors performance in the 2005 season mirrors that of San Diego's success this year.
