NRL rookie Jahream Bula puts aside his hoop dreams to debut for the Wests Tigers

Two years ago Jahream Bula had NBA aspirations, but a call from Greg Inglis brought the high school prodigy back to the game of rugby league.

Ask those in the know and they’ll tell you that Jahream Bula could have been a decent basketball player. Good enough, some would suggest, to crack it for a start in the NBL.

For Bula, the ultimate dream was America, the college system and maybe if things had gone his way, the NBA. Only two years ago, it was all that the Wests Tigers fullback could think about.

He had a rugby league career at his mercy but he was more interested in slam dunks and alley oops. So he turned his back on the NRL and a contract with the Gold Coast Titans to pursue a dream.

On Sunday afternoon at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Bula will make his first grade debut for the West Tigers wearing the No. 1 jersey. Once an aspiring basketball player, Bula is the latest saviour for a Tigers side that is yet to win a game this season.

How Bula arrived at this point is one of the more remarkable stories of the NRL season, his love for rugby league returning thanks in part by one of the greatest players in the game’s history, Greg Inglis.

“I am excited but also nervous,” Bula told News Corp.

“It doesn’t feel real to be honest. I never thought I would be in this position because going back two years I didn’t want anything to do with rugby league, I wanted to play basketball.

“It is crazy that I am in this position now.”

Wests Tigers debutant Jahream Bula (L) played rugby league sevens in the Koori Knockout with Greg Inglis (R) for the Wall Street Warriors in 2022. Credit: Supplied.

THE DREAM

Bula first appeared on the radar of NRL clubs while playing at famed rugby league nursery Keebra Park High School on the Gold Coast, where his teammates included Brisbane pair Reece Walsh and Blake Mozer.

The Titans were impressed enough to offer him a contract at the end of 2019, having been wowed by his athleticism during testing – he led all players at the club in the broad jump, which is used to measure acceleration and power.

He returned to school in 2020, played as a centre and was touted as one of the contenders for their player of the year award. Then, with the rugby league world at his feet, he dropped a bombshell.

Bula was playing basketball as well and at the end of the rugby league season, he sat down with coach Glen Campbell and told him he had made a decision on his future – he wanted to focus on basketball.

“I remember that talk with Glen,” Bula said.

“I remember I was crying because rugby league played such a big part in my life to that time. It was hard to leave.”

Campbell hasn’t forgotten the conversation either.

“It got to the end of the year and he said that is it for football for me, I am going to play basketball” Campbell said.

“Away he went to basketball. As a schoolteacher it is a bit of a delicate line you need to walk - I said your wellbeing comes first.

“I always believed his career was going to be in rugby league rather than basketball.”

BASKETBALL

Bula’s basketball dream had been ignited on a tour to America while he was still at Keebra Park. When he returned from that trip, his mind was made up.

“In 2019 I went on a basketball tour to America and when I came back I decided I wanted to play basketball because I enjoyed the experience so much,” he said.

He played the 2020-21 season with the Logan Thunder in the NBL1, the feeder system to the NBL. He could play too.

Good enough for Basketball Queensland high performance manager Luke Cann to suggest he would have been an NBL prospect in a couple of years had he stayed the course,

“He probably would have been a legitimate NBL1 player and an NBL prospect in two to three years if he put his mind to it,” Cann said.

“He was a freakish athlete and really good defender.”

Basketball, however, inadvertently led him back to rugby league. Bula moved to Sydney looking for more opportunities but that decision was the beginning of his road to the NRL.

“I was pretty decent, pretty decent,” he said.

“I reckon I could have gone pretty high in basketball had I stuck to it.”

Good luck to Jahream Bula this weekend who’ll debut at fullback#WT269pic.twitter.com/VSsL4Mcv4m

— NBWT (@NBWT__) April 18, 2023

THE LEGEND

Melbourne, Queensland and Australian legend Greg Inglis hasn’t played in the NRL for years but he has been a regular presence in Koori Knockout carnivals, representing the Wall Street Warriors with pride.

When the Warriors were short last year, they reached out to Bula to make up the numbers.

“We found he was cruising around home, not really doing much,” Inglis said.

“We said, ’Why don’t you come and play?’ He is a good player, a really good player. He was quiet, but he was good. He will be up for the occasion.

“Coming back and playing for Wall Street, you could see he wanted to get back into it.”

A fire was ignited.

“I moved down to Sydney last year – I moved down intending on playing basketball but my cousin needed an extra number (for the Wall Street Warriors) so I filled in,” Bula told News Corp.

“I hadn’t played for a year so I was a bit rusty. It just brought my love back for rugby.”

Jahream Bula in action for the Wests Tigers in 2023. Picture: NRL PHOTOS

THE TIGERS

With rugby league once again pulsing through his veins, Bula picked up the phone last year and called his former Keebra Park captain Trey Peni.

Peni was playing for the Tigers’ Jersey Flegg side at the time and asked the club whether Bula could be given an opportunity. Bula simultaneously reached out to his agent Liam Ayoub.

Ayoub had been trying to contact Bula without success. Then, he suddenly received a text message out of the blue on March 5 from Bula saying he wanted to return to rugby league.

In the meantime, Tigers and recruitment boss Warren McDonnell got wind that Bula was in town. He didn’t waste any time.

“I got a phone call from the Wests Tigers and I said, ‘You won’t be disappointed in this kid’,” Campbell said.

“The kid can play football.”

On March 6, Bula was at the Tigers for a medical and screening. Within a fortnight, he had signed a contract and the rest is history – he spent last season starring in Jersey Flegg and impressed so much in the pre-season, coach Tim Sheens predicted he could leapfrog Daine Laurie and Charlie Staines to the No. 1 jersey.

That day has now arrived.

“It is good to hear that he has faith in me,” Bula said.

“That gives me more confidence to go out there and perform. I am just going out to have fun and do my job.

“I have quite a bit of family coming from the Gold Coast and the Coffs Harbour area. It will be good to see them.

“It is crazy. I still can’t believe it.”

Originally published as NRL rookie Jahream Bula puts aside his hoop dreams to debut for the Wests Tigers