Michael Maguire has had plenty of difficult conversations with NRL hopefuls about their futures, but the one with Jordan Mailata sticks in his mind.
“I sat down with his manager one day and said, ‘This is where his rugby league is at – here’s a massive opportunity, if you put your head down, you never know,’” the former South Sydney coach said.
“I think he’s now on about $90 million in the NFL. It’s a long way from the $5000 that was offered to stay at North Sydney Bears to try to fight your way into first grade.”
Mailata’s next game is Monday’s (AEDT) Super Bowl, where he will line up as an offensive lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s a world away from North Sydney Oval, where he considered battling for an NRL contract with other semi-professional league players.
The last contract Mailata signed was for $92 million. He will be worth every cent if he keeps the Eagles’ quarterback out of harm’s way against the Kansas City Chiefs in Arizona.
Mailata, all 203cm and 155kg of him, left an indelible impression on Maguire when the pair crossed paths at Redfern at the end of 2016.
Jordan Mailata and (inset) Michael Maguire. Credit:Getty, NRL Photos
“I’m not 100 per cent sure how he came over to Souths, but I was there to meet him,” Maguire said. “There’s a long corridor under the Redfern ground where all the players are, and he came in at one end and I was coming from the other.
“He basically just filled the hallway. I was, ‘What on earth! He is something else.’ ”
It was clear Mailata needed to trim down significantly to make it in rugby league. Maguire could not have been more impressed by the Bankstown product’s attempts to do so.
“To his credit, he trained every morning for two months to bring his body weight down,” Maguire said. “He was in training, burning away.
‘It is one hell of a story, one of the biggest stories in Australian sport.’
Michael Maguire on Jordan Mailata
“I never said he wouldn’t make it [in the NRL], I just said that the opportunities for him to go into the NFL were potentially a lot greater than the NRL. You just look at the size of him and it was obvious, it was a no-brainer for me.
“He could really move; his movements for a big man were outstanding. To do it consistently on a rugby league field for 80 minutes is difficult, and obviously forwards are playing 20-minute stints now.
“You could just see how quickly he could move for a big man in short bursts, it suits what is going on in the NFL.”
Mailata got his weight down to about 130kg in a bid to achieve his NRL dream, but it was still uncertain if he could haul his huge frame around the field for extended periods.
However, his unusual physique – he now weighs 166kg – appeared tailor-made for the demands of the NFL.
“The one thing about Jordan, he was always wanting to learn,” Maguire said. “It’s no easy feat losing weight when you are that big, but he was always keen to learn. That suits what he’s had to do since he went over; they have playbooks that are 10 centimetres thick. It’s a whole different world with all of the plays and nuances of the game.
“He’s quite an astute character. He’s a very talented kid; he plays the guitar and sings. The players and the staff loved having him around.
“It is one hell of a story, one of the biggest stories in Australian sport. We’ve had other players go over to the NFL, but now he’s about to play in the Super Bowl.”
After moving to the US, Mailata initially struggled with homesickness and the challenge of a code switch via the International Player Pathway Program. However, his perseverance was rewarded: on draft day in 2018, the Eagles selected him as pick 233 out of a total of 259.
The 25-year-old is now considered a bargain buy at $US16 million a season, after signing a new contract in 2021, and is a household name in the US.
“It’s a credit to what he’s done,” Maguire said. “He’s in one of the most important positions on the field; he’s protecting the quarterback. That’s a huge role in itself.
“Jordan has gone on and pursued something that was driven a bit by his manager, not in a bad way. He was floating around rugby league and his passion was for league, he really wanted to stay in league.
“He had some challenges understanding what NFL was all about, but when you fast-forward five or six years later, he’s in the big time and now playing in a Super Bowl.
“He was offered a $5000 train-and-see-how-you-go-type contract. He’s gone on and is in a completely different situation now.”
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
