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NEW YORK: Jarryd Hayne could be the catalyst that opens the gateway from Australia to the United States as the NFL looks at introducing a combine to scout talent down under.
Fairfax Media visited the NFL's Manhattan headquarters in New York City this week, sitting down with NFL executive vice president of international, Mark Waller, to discuss the impact Jarryd Hayne's transition to the NFL could have in Australia. 
The NFL admit the Australian sporting landscape has never been a priority but the noise Hayne is creating in San Francisco has them rethinking their strategy around player recruitment.
"It's definitely stimulated a lot of thought here about what can we do better to create a system for great talented athletes to find their way to the NFL more easily," Waller said.
"Essentially, Jarryd basically took that decision himself and found his own way here. All credit to him. But we should probably be thinking about how we can make that easier. Not everyone is going to be as brave as he's been or potentially not as immediately talented. That's one aspect of thinking."
The most logical system would be to introduce an NFL-type combine to Australia. The combine is a combination of certain sport specific conditioning drills to determine speed, strength and skill levels to compare to other athletes that are watched closely by NFL franchise scouts.
The introduction of a combine in Australia would provide current NRL, AFL and rugby union players a gauge of whether they could crack it playing American football, rather than taking a massive gamble - one that seems to now have paid off for Hayne.
"We've not really done a good job, I don't think, of actually thinking through how you build a system for that," Waller said.
"It's odd because we have a very good system in the US - the combine. That mechanic is a great way for providing a very clear focal point. It lays out very cleary 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.
"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."
Hayne's US agent Jack Bechta hasn't hidden away from the fact he intends to visit Australia next year to potentially unearth the next Jarryd Hayne.
He's also making the trip to London for this month's World Cup, keeping an aye on the 15-man game for athletes capable of making an impression in the US.
Following Hayne's success in the opening two preseason trials, Fairfax Media informed Bechta that the closest thing to a future NFL star in the NRL would be Roosters No.1 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Two days later Bechta tweeted Tuivasa-Sheck saying: "I enjoy watching your work!"
Bechta isn't surprised the NFL are keeping a close eye on Hayne and believes a combine in Australia could become a reality because of his client.
"Yes, I'm sure they are watching the interest very closely," Bechta said of the NFL.
"However Jarryd still hasn't made the team so I think it's premature to start all these conversations. I don't think there are thousands or hundreds of potential NFL players in Australia but there may be a handful.
"I personally have an interest in investigating who they might be. They've been talking about doing international combines for years. Jarryd could be the catalyst to make that a reality."
One of the difficulties for Australians following the NFL is the lack of knowledge and education of the sport.
However the NFL, who admit that can be "intimidating" for potential fans, believe a combine could go some way to changing that.
"  Maybe, and I'm kind of thinking out loud, but maybe the combine type idea might be a good way of teaching the skills so that when you watch a game you understand it ... I don't want to make a commitment that it will change immediately because we still have limited resources, the same we had before Jarryd came over.
"The commissioner didn't suddenly turn around and say 'yeah, go ahead, how about Australia now'. But it definitely will change because we'll take a long hard look at it and work out the best way to develop it."