ANOTHER one of rugby top young talents attracts the interest of NFL scouts
Jordan Petaia during the Rugby World Cup RWC 2023 match between Australia Wallabies and Georgia on September 9, 2023 at Stade de France in Saint-Denis near Paris, France.
One of Australia’s top talents, Jordan Petaia, is attracting interest from the NFL and is fielding offers from Japan and the NRL.
The 23-year-old enters the final year of his contract with Rugby Australia and the Queensland Reds and has revealed that two different sports are interested in his services.
He heads into the final year of his contract off the back of a difficult 2023 with the Wallabies, where the side won just one of their nine Test matches under Eddie Jones and crashed out of the World Cup at the pool stages of the tournament for the first time in their history.
Another code hopper?
In an interview with Newscorp, he revealed he had fielded interest from the NFL’s International Player Pathway system, the same program that Wales star Louis Rees-Zammit joined last week as he announced his break from rugby to chase his NFL dream.
That is not the only option on the table as Petaia could follow fellow Wallabies teammate Mark Nawaqanitawase in switching to rugby league. He confirmed that a Queensland-based NRL club, as well as Japanese rugby clubs, approached him.
“I don’t know about other players, but there’s not too much pressure around that sort of stuff,” Petaia told the newspaper.
“It doesn’t change anything with my mindset. I’m focused at the Reds this year, and for however long that is, but I’m just focused on this environment and doing what’s best for this team.
“I’ve had a few questions about [the NRL], but it’s still so early in the year. I still have this whole year to figure out what I’m going to do.
“I’m just enjoying my time at the Reds and trying to build a winning culture here, and see what options I’ve got at the end of the year with my manager.”
Joe Schmidt’s arrival
It’s a year of change for Petaia at club and Test level with Les Kiss taking over as the Reds head coach and Joe Schmidt coming in to replace Eddie Jones.
Having already featured at two World Cups, failing to make it past the quarters in one and the pool stage in the other, Petaia hasn’t given up on the Wallabies yet and is excited to see what Schmidt brings to the Test team.
“I don’t know a lot about Joe Schmidt,” he said. “Oviously, he’s coached a lot in the northern hemisphere, but I’m glad someone has filled thethat roel and it’s exicting for Australian rugby.
“I’ve never said I was going to leave rugby, but the winning is always good.
“A part of last year was just moving on from that campaign, and we’re turning over a new leaf. We always want to build a winning culture, that doesn’t really shape what I’m going to do, but you want to be part of a winning culture.”
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