Why Bulldogs junior Jake Averillo has no regrets about leaving ladder-leaders Canterbury for a fresh start in Queensland
Jake Averillo had every intention of being a Bulldog for life, until Wayne Bennett came calling. The Dolphins star opens up on his time at Canterbury, getting engaged and starting a new life at Redcliffe.
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Jake Averillo could have been revelling in the Bulldogs hysteria gripping the same streets of south western Sydney that he grew up in.
The Canterbury local junior never imagined he would swap the hustle and bustle of Bankstown for the quiet life in Redcliffe.
He had every intention of being a Bulldog for life.
Instead, Averillo marked his 100-game milestone in round 26 last year – just two weeks after his 24th birthday – with a try in the NRL’s newest cross-town rivalry as a Dolphin.
“I was actually thinking about the 100 games today, how fast everything has gone. I never thought I would play my 100th game with a Queensland team. It’s pretty crazy,” Averillo said.
“It’s been unreal, I really love it up here. It is so different, especially coming from south west Sydney. It’s a really relaxed lifestyle and a lot quieter than where I grew up.
“Even the weather is different. But I love the laid back atmosphere. It’s a coastal town, on the water. To be honest there isn’t too much to do around here, it’s about 40 minutes from the city.
“I actually really like that it’s out of the way, it’s pretty chill and I’m a chill person.”
But there was nothing ‘chill’ about the time Averillo, who burst onto the scene as a 19-year old and a highly touted local junior in 2020, spent at Canterbury.
By 2023, Averillo had a front-row seat to the sackings of Dean Pay and Trent Barrett and had already played under five different coaches.
The Bulldogs were also in a battle to avoid a second wooden spoon in just three seasons, this time under then rookie coach Cameron Ciraldo.
So when Wayne Bennett, the game’s most experienced mentor, came calling with an opportunity to join the Dolphins, he was offering far more than the security of a three-year deal.
Bennett was offering Averillo a chance at a clean slate.
“I was looking for something different, a fresh start, a new experience. The Dolphins being a new club felt like the perfect opportunity,” Averillo said.
“Wayne is the reason I came up (to Redcliffe). I wanted to play under him, he’s one of the best coaches.
“He’s hard to describe … he has this knack of getting the best out of players and he doesn’t even have to stay that much to you.
“He figures out how your mind works, how you operate and what they need to be their best on the weekend.
“He had so much experience, so when he says something you can trust it.”
But when Averillo knocked back an offer to stay in Belmore to join the Dolphins from 2024, he wasn’t the only one at a crossroads.
The Bulldogs were too.
After a 15th place finish in his final year in Belmore, Canterbury would turn around its on-field woes to emerge a finals contender.
“I guess I was pretty naive when I first made my debut being so young. I didn’t pay too much attention to the noise at the time being a pretty laid person,” Averillo said.
“But I look back at it now and the position I was in, at a club like Canterbury with a massive fan base, as you can see now the Bulldogs are going so well … but it is what it is, I didn’t really see it at the time.”
While the Bulldogs are headed for another top eight berth, Averillo is yet to play in a finals series.
After four-straight losses to start the season, a win for the Dolphins against the Roosters at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night will make it four wins from five games for Kristian Woolf’s men.
Averillo is confident the Dolphins can secure a maiden finals appearance in 2025.
“With the team we have, if we can stay healthy, we have shown in the last couple of weeks that we should be playing finals footy,” the Dolphins centre said.
“It’s about staying consistent. We had lapses against the Raiders, it’s about not having those, that will go a long way to getting us into the top eight.”
Much of the Dolphins’ finals chances rest on the shoulders of prodigious talents of young halfback Isaiya Katoa.
“He is well beyond his years, we even forget how young he is when we are playing next to him,” Averillo said.
“He’s got a really good footy brain and he is finally finding his own and getting better each week. Even at training, he is just talking more and more. He’s so impressive for someone as young as he is.”
While Averillo, who played in every backline position during his time at Belmore, is making waves as a centre, he has been open about his ambitions as a playmaker in the halves.
It’s a move that could eventually unfold at Redcliffe given coach Woolf has entertained moving flyer Jack Bostock into the centres.
“At this point in time, I’m playing centre at the moment and I’m enjoying it,” Averillo said when asked about forming a halves combination with Katoa.
“I just want to make the centre position my own.”
Averillo will have another big contract decision to make come November 1 when he hits the open market as a free agent.
But he already has one contract on the table that he is more than willing to sign – a marriage contract.
Averillo popped the question to his partner Charlie at the picturesque Lake Como during the couple’s European getaway in October last year.
“The wedding planning has started but it’s a bit of a process,” Averillo laughed.
“It will be late next year. We are looking at a number of different venues, we haven’t decided on anything yet or locked in a date.”
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Originally published as Why Bulldogs junior Jake Averillo has no regrets about leaving ladder-leaders Canterbury for a fresh start in Queensland
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