Tom Burgess has taken his first step towards a move to the NFL but Colin Scotts, who blazed the trail for Australians in the NFL has warned Burgess that he faces an arduous battle.
The South Sydney prop surprised the NRL community when he trained with the New York Giants on Thursday as he seeks to follow in the footsteps of San Francisco 49ers convert Jarryd Hayne.
The 23-year-old English prop has travelled to the US with the full blessing of the Rabbitohs and has reportedly lined up trials with several other NFL franchises
He trialled with the Giants as a tight end and was tested for speed, strength and agility.
Scotts though warned that simply having size, strength and great athletic conditioning would not be enough.
"You can't just walk over there and be part of the front line, the defensive line," Scotts said.
"If he is going over, the big thing for him is it's just a lot to learn. He's never worn a helmet.
"I don't want to be negative and I think it's great that he's going over. But he has to be prepared to know it takes a while to learn this game."
The good news for Burgess is that many NFL teams have had great success transforming athletes from other sports - in particular basketball - into elite tight ends including Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, Demetrius Harris and Julius Thomas.
Tight ends are tall, mobile, high leapers with good hands used by quarterbacks as an alternative offensive weapon to wide-receivers.
Scotts said while Burgess possessed many of the attributes of a tight end, including size, blocking ability and speed off the mark, he questioned whether he had the ball-handling experience to make an immediate transition.
"He's got to be able to block and explode off the ball, which he'd be great at," Scotts said.
"But you've also got to have great hands. You've got to catch the ball and I don't know how much catching he's done.
"But there are certain teams that prefer blocking tight ends more than running tight ends, but at the end of the day you've got to be able to catch the ball and you've got to run routes like a wide receiver."
Souths coach Michael Maguire said the experience would enhance Burgess' skills and athletic ability and played down concerns about the front-rower prematurely departing Redfern.
Burgess is contracted to Souths until the end 2018 alongside his twin brother George. His older brother Sam is also preparing to return to South Sydney in 2016 after a stint in rugby union.
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