Jordan Rankin ready for ‘second chance’ at NRL following debut at just 16

JORDAN Rankin has been the youngest footballer to play NRL for eighty years. And that, he insists, is the way it should stay.

Jordan Rankin at Wests Tigers

JORDAN Rankin, for eighty years, has been the youngest footballer to play NRL.

And that, he insists, is the way it should stay.

“Because I’d hate to see anyone else go through what I did,’’ the new Wests Tigers winger said.

“At 16, I was a kid. Wasn’t anywhere near ready. So trying to deal with the hype ... it was all too hard to live up to.”

Jordan Rankin is back in the NRL following two years in England.

This is the story of a prodigy who appeared dead. Of a career that seemed done. Yet somehow, it isn’t.

No, now aged 24 — and having spent the past two years in England — Rankin, the former Gold Coast wunderkind has quietly snuck back into the NRL for what he dubs “my second chance”.

And this time, the hysteria is gone. Rankin is simply pushing for a place on the Tigers wing. Hopefully, the chance to kick a few goals, too.

Which is why, three times a week, he and head coach Jason Taylor hang around on the training pitch long after everyone else has disappeared, together booting Steedens between the uprights.

Gone, finally, is the hype that once shadowed the holiday strip’s “Next Big Thing”.

Done too, the crippling stress that accompanied this Palm Beach-Currumbin student when, way back in 2008, Titans head coach John Cartwright thrust him into an NRL debut against Newcastle.

Jordan Rankin, who debuted in the NRL at 16 and is now 24.

At 16 years and 238 days, Rankin became the code’s third-youngest player ever. And he struggled.

“Not so much with the game,’’ Rankin recalled. “But everything else. The headlines, the interviews ... there was just so much expectation.”

And spotlight. Take the advertisement for clothing company Skins which, running in Rugby League Week, proclaimed: “Playing first grade at 16 takes balls. Especially if they haven’t dropped yet”.

While no kid deserves that, Rankin battled on. But he struggled. Despite his hyped debut, the prodigy would then go almost three years before playing his second NRL game. All up, he earnt only 17 starts with the Titans before disappearing to Hull in the UK.

“Every time I took the field, I felt stressed,’’ Rankin said.

“There was so much expectation, everybody calling me the Next Big Thing of the Gold Coast, and I just wasn’t ready for that.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t really be ready mentally for another two or three years.

“I’ve seen recently where the NRL wants to up the age of debutants to 18. I’d definitely agree with that.”

As for the season?

“For me, it’s just good to be back,’’ he said. “When I left the NRL, I had to go. I was stale.

“I was still only 21 but I just wasn’t enjoying my footy like I should’ve been.

“So now, coming back, it’s like my second chance.”

Originally published as Jordan Rankin ready for ‘second chance’ at NRL following debut at just 16