Josh Jackson: junior teammates, coach pay tribute to retiring Bulldogs captain

Canterbury Bulldogs skipper Josh Jackson shocked the rugby league world last week by announcing his retirement. Now, his junior teammates and coach reflect on the NRL legend before he hit the big time.

Valentine-Eleebana juniors can still remember when a bloke by the name of Josh Jackson first rocked up to training.

It was the pre-season of 2007, and an unassuming country kid had just joined the Devils’ under 16s team in the Newcastle competition.

“He was a hard worker, just so solid,” says teammate Shaun Kellar. “He was always running hard, tackling hard – he made a difference.”

Born in Gulgong, Jackson played for the Gulgong Terriers and Mudgee Dragons before his family moved to Newcastle in 2007. As Jackson himself has put it in previous interviews, the decision was part seachange, part opportunity for him to try and crack the NRL.

As fate would have it, Jackson found himself living just over the back fence of the fields of the Devils, a powerhouse junior club whose old boys include the likes of NRL stars Paul ‘the Chief’ Harragon, Brett Kimmorley, Luke Burt, Michael Ennis, Clint Newton, Willie Mason and Josh Perry, just to name a few.

Jackson captained the Bulldogs in the 2022 NRL season.

While he impressed his teammates with his toughness, Kellar says that was just one of the many strings to Jackson’s bow.

“He was always good, no matter what position he played. He’d cover a range of positions. He could play lock, we had a hard run with injuries and he played five-eighth. We were just trying to get him in there somewhere, near the ball. It didn’t matter where he played, he just dominated.”

And just as good as he was on the field, he was equally as impressive off it, even at a young age.

“Outside of football he was a great bloke. He was just a really genuine bloke with his head screwed on.”

It was a similar story one year later when Kellar and Jackson made the natural progression to the Lakes United Seagulls’ under 17s team.

The coach was Scott Douglas, who revealed just how impressed he was with the young Jackson.

“We were amazed when he came along. You just knew he was going to make it, because he had that aura about him as a player but also as a person,” he said.

“He was such a hard worker. A lot of the other boys who were in the representative system for school and rep would go away to Sydney to play and then ring and say, ‘I can’t really make training tonight, I’m a bit sore, I just played a game of footy.’ But Jacko would be in the car, on the way to football training and wouldn’t miss it.”

Bulldogs’ Josh Jackson is congratulated on his 200th game and win by teammates during NRL match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium. Picture. Phil Hillyard

In what would be no surprise to Bulldogs’ fans, that hardworking attitude also showed on the field.

“It was just his effort in defence, he’d top the tackle count every week,” says Douglas.

“But where you sort of knew where he had it was that he was sort of that first era of the big forward with ball skills. He could run to the line and offload, he could just organise everything.”

With Jackson leading the team, Lakes went all the way to the grand final in 2008, narrowly going down to local rivals Western Suburbs Rosellas in the decider.

“I do remember in the grand final against Wests they made a break down the edge and I saw one of those Scott Sattler moments where he came from the other side of the field and mowed this guy down.

“We almost came back to win. We were down by about 20 at half time and by the end I think we lost by two points, and that was sort of the turning point of the game when Josh made that tackle. Everybody lifted and started following him.

“But at the same time he’d be coming off the field patting other blokes on the back, telling them how good they played,” says Douglas.

“He was one of the most down to earth people you could ever meet. He treated everybody in the team equally. It didn’t matter if it was a lower-developed player – he always had time for them, would pull them aside and help them out.”

And while the Bulldogs have angrily denied reports that Jackson was pressured into retiring to free up space in the salary cap, Douglas said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Canterbury captain volunteered to do that himself.

“He’s a clubman, and you can see that by what he’s done for the Bulldogs. He’d be the sort of person who’d love to see young talent come through the club and to keep them there. He’s the sort of person who would put his hand up and say, ‘I’m happy to stand aside if that’s going to help the club out.’”

Josh Jackson went on to represent both NSW and Australia. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

While Jackson retired a Bulldogs legend, after having played 241 games for the club and representing Country, NSW and Australia, he could well have had a career in red and blue rather than blue and white if not for an ill-fated retention decision.

“We couldn’t believe it when he got dropped from the Knights’ system. Everyone said, ‘He’ll be the one that makes it, because he just works so hard,’” Douglas said.

“He came to training that day and let us know. He said, ‘I’ve been dropped.’ And everyone just said, ‘Don’t worry about it, two weeks and you’ll be at another club.’ And I think it wasn’t even that and the Bulldogs had got him.

“No one can believe the Knights let him go. That’s probably a bigger story than anything: how did the Knights let someone like that go, and not just pick them up for life?”

And as fans of the Bulldogs, NSW and Australia have paid tribute to one of the good guys of rugby league, those who knew him as a junior remain equally proud of his career.

“Jacko was one of the best blokes you’d ever meet, he shared his talent amongst everyone that he played with,” Douglas said. “He would do anything to help anybody on and off the field, and I can’t speak highly enough of him.”