Philadelphia Eagles NFL player Jordan Mailata urges athletes to take advantage of pathway made by new Australian academy

The new NFL Academy in Australia represents a power shift for the country’s football codes. The pipedream could turn into a pipeline of athletes playing a sport with audiences and lucrative contracts other codes can’t match. Philadelphia Eagles star Jordan Mailata details why athletes should take advantage.

Philadelphia Eagles NFL player Jordan Mailata with A.B. Paterson College students. Picture: Sam Hocking.

Australia’s football codes are on notice. The dynamic of sport in the country has shifted following the launch of the NFL’s Asia-Pacific Academy on the Gold Coast.

The country’s top athletes who have long thought of the NFL as a pipedream with too many hurdles now have an accessible pathway to the US league.

Instead of playing in the likes of the NRL and AFL they could be catapulted to the Super Bowl courtesy of the NFL who has inked a 10-year deal with A.B. Paterson College in Queensland.

The NFL is a force football rivals can’t match. Bigger crowds, global audiences and lucrative contracts sometimes worth more than an entire NRL or AFL salary cap on any given year.

Sydney product and Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata has lived it and urged the next generation of Aussie athletes to take advantage of the academy that will provide students with world class coaching.

Philadelphia Eagles NFL player Jordan Mailata at A.B. Paterson College. Picture: Sam Hocking.

Mailata was told he didn’t have what it took to make it in the NRL after playing under-20s for South Sydney. He was given an opportunity to try out for the NFL’s International Player Pathway in early 2018 and had to learn the game within the space of months before being drafted by the Eagles.

It was a direct route but incredibly difficult for Mailata who said academy students would benefit from being able to spend years learning the game before potentially entering the US college system.

“They have to take advantage of it,” Mailata said.

“If they have dreams of playing in the NFL this is a very direct path into achieving that. My path was very direct but it wasn’t easy.

“Having the academy out here it will provide an easier transition.

Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata (68). Picture: Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images.

“I had so much to learn in a couple months before getting thrown into the fire. These kids will be able to take their time. The sky is the limit if they choose to embark on this journey.”

Mailata, who will mentor the academy students multiple times a year, said it could attract not only the best athletes in Australia but also those like himself deemed unsuitable to the other football codes.

“The NFL welcomes all shapes and sizes. You need different sizes in the NFL to execute plays,” Mailata said.

“I’m the biggest guy (166kg) on the (Eagles) team and then you have (165cm) running backs who are 70kg of pure athleticism.

“Anyone who doesn’t fit the shape of an AFL or NRL player, a cricket player, volleyball, they could probably fit in the shape of an NFL player. That is the whole point growing the market down here.

“That is the most comforting part for me knowing kids who didn’t get a fair shot like I did at their respective sport, whatever it is, they can get a decent shot at coming to this academy.”