The worst kept secret is out of the bag, Jordan Petaia is off to the National Football League.
Even the most ardent rugby union fan can hardly complain that a young man is following his dream of giving American football a go, or the money on offer for simply getting on a practice squad, which will dwarf his salary from both Rugby Australia and Queensland combined; all with the failsafe option of returning to the sport if the unfortunate happens and he fails to be picked up by one of the 32 franchises.
Bursting into the Australian rugby consciousness with his highlight reels from Brisbane State high school teams, through to his early appearances in the NRC for Queensland Country, Super Rugby for the Queensland Reds and ultimately his Wallabies debut 18 months in o his professional career, he was the Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii before Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.
The world appeared to be at his feet.
His games showed great promise. There were elements of naivety and rough edges that needed shaping to his displays, offloads at the wrong times, missed tackles and dropped balls, but when it sparked, boy did it spark.
Despite his age he showed power, speed and individual ability for many to believe that this latest wunderkind of Australian rugby could go on to become a world-class player.
The irony of it all is that whilst Petaia spent much of his career under the tutelage of Michael Cheika, Dave Rennie, Eddie Jones and Brad Thorn, it is the presence of both Les Kiss and Joe Schmidt at the Reds and Wallabies that could have seen Petaia kickstart his career and develop into a positional specialist, rather than the rugby union generalist that he was becoming.
Kiss at London Irish displayed an aptitude to harness and develop the club’s academy talents; whilst the work done through Schmidt’s career evidences his ability to maximise talent. Ultimately now though, we will never know if this would have come to fruition.
But the injuries, he was made of glass. Yes, the injuries were taking their toll but as with Taniela Tupou this may be a case of too much too young for explosive players. Rather than focusing on adding size, more time maybe should have been spent on prehab, core work and flexibility.
On a personal level, if Jordy was remaining in rugby union for the next few years I could have envisioned a combination of Andrew Kellaway, Tom Wright, Petaia, Suaalii and Max Jorgensen that would have had almost all bases covered.
Pace? Yes
Height? Yes
Power? Yes
Kicking? Yes
Rugby nous? Yes
Importantly, with maybe the exception of Kellaway, all players would have had time on their side to grow individually and as a unit.
So what next? As mentioned at the start you can’t begrudge him taking the opportunity presented. Let’s hope he makes a good fist of it.
It would be nice if he did have a look but decided that his heart belonged to union and his desire to wear Wallaby gold sees him return to the fold more experienced, more confident and understanding that this career is fleeting, so maximising it every day is worth the short term pain, with the long-term gain squarely in mind.
Good luck, Jordy – we will all be watching (just don’t forget us).