OF all the places to go and broaden your rugby league horizons, the University of South Florida does not immediately spring to mind.

Yet that was the venue for the Bulls’ head of performance and video operations Lance Du’Lac during a recent fact-finding trip stateside.

He visited the aptly-named South Florida Bulls, the university’s American football team based in Tampa who come under the umbrella of the academic institute’s many sporting teams.

The Bulls compete in the American Athletic Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision within the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

College football it may be, but the facilities are quite staggering and the budding student athletes have ambitions to make the grade in the NFL.

Du’Lac has previously visited other American university football teams and his latest journey across the pond saw him return armed with information he aims to put to use at Odsal.

A long-standing associate of Bulls head coach Jimmy Lowes, Du’Lac has worked at Salford, Warrington, Catalans, Hull FC and Hull KR plus NRL sides Canterbury, Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as the England, Australia and New Zealand national sides.

“Going to visit other organisations was an idea I got from Craig Bellamy when we worked together with Melbourne,” says Du’Lac, whose trip was self-funded.

“One year Craig will head to Europe and visit soccer clubs, rugby union teams and some rugby league sides to see how they operate.

“The following year he will go to America. Craig tends to take a different member of staff with him and that forms part of their club development.

“Obviously Melbourne Storm have got bigger resources so they can implement more things but I remember Craig saying ‘it’s not so much about buying in a certain piece of equipment’.

“It’s more about looking at the philosophies of how these sporting organisations work and interact with each other to continually push forward performance.

“It’s always very interesting to hear the way they prepare for meetings, deliver them, and give feedback to players.

“Hopefully a lot of it just confirms that you’re on the right track with what you’re doing anyway, but you can always pick up little tips.

“I’ve been to a number of universities in America and Canada and during my trip to Florida I was recommended a couple of books which some of their coaching staff use.

“There are some interesting philosophies in these books and, even though it’s university level, they run on exactly the same lines as the NFL.

“I would like to forge a more formal partnership with the South Florida Bulls, with us sharing the same name, and if we got back into Super League we could make then look to expand that.

“That might mean having a warm-weather camp in Florida as Leeds Rhinos have done, or simply increase the level of staff knowledge transfer.

“The South Florida Bulls are similar to us in that they operate one step below the top tier but still operate as an elite full time organisation, their players and staff make sacrifices to get to that next level and we will need to do that also”

Du’Lac is working towards completing a PhD at the University of Hull, specialising in elite coaches use of performance analysis technology.

He films all the Bulls’ training sessions and matches before analysing players’ performances and presenting the statistical-based information to Lowes such as metres made, carries, tackles and offloads.

From this and the physical data, a player’s Contribution Value Rating for every game, and their subsequent value to the team, can be measured.

Du’Lac, who came on board shortly after Lowes was appointed, uses an app called DVSport Shuttle which allows for detailed replays and match analysis.

Du’Lac said: “Straight after a game you can transfer the footage to your iPad and start cutting it up to show to a player.

“It’s a handy tool for training also because you can shoot footage on your iPad and it jumps straight into DVSport Shuttle app.

“The slow motion and the frame by frame is a lot smoother than on other recording equipment.

“We dropped it in and out last season, Jimmy has used it for some meetings because it adds variety and keeps players focused. It’s particularly useful on coach journeys home from long-distance away games.”

The South Florida Bulls play at the home of NFL giants Tampa Bay Buccaneers – the 75,000 capacity Raymond James Stadium.

Reflecting on last season, Du’Lac said: “We said the first game at Leigh last year was not the be-all and end-all.

“It would have been nice to have won, but after that we won 14 or 15 games, although we probably didn’t play the way we actually wanted to in a lot of them.

“However, we were bedding in many new players whereas this year a lot of the guys have had that season here now and are more mentally attuned to the Championship.

“Everyone from the boardroom to the players are going to have to have what the Americans term ‘an uncommon level of commitment to a common cause’ this year if we are to realise our ambitions.

“It’s about not letting any of your performance standards drop and meeting each challenge with a response that is in line with your end goal.

“If we want to play in the top league then its time to let our actions speak for themselves, and that starts in pre season.

“We should have an attitude and style of play about us that is so consistently high that it challenges the opposition to try and rise up and meet us there.

“We want to make it very difficult for the opposition every week and ensure that we dictate the overall game rather than let anything dictate it to us.”