Aussie phenom cops disappointing blow for NFL opener

The hype around Jordan Mailata’s NFL debut has fizzled – at least for this week.

The Australian giant will not play in the Philadelphia Eagles’ season opener against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday (AEST).

But the Eagles’ Geelong-raised punter, Cameron Johnston, was named in the defending Super Bowl champion’s 46-man squad.

The Eagles plan to take their time developing the 203cm tall, 157kg former South Sydney NRL prospect Mailata who only played his first game of American football last month.

The Eagles named Mailata and Johnston in their 53-man regular-season rosters on Saturday, while cutting more than 30 other players, and it was expected Mailata would sit out against the Falcons.

Johnston, also a rookie, is more battle-hardened for the pressure of the NFL after punting for Ohio State University.

Mailata grew up in western Sydney, dreaming of making his living in the NRL.

He got close, too, with his work ethic and his pure bulk impressing the senior coaches at South Sydney.

But, somehow, a theory that at 6-foot-8 Mailata was too big for a game that relies so heavily on aerobic fitness became a potential roadblock to a lucrative contact.

So his agent put together a highlight video of this human wrecking ball rampaging through defenses and making crunching tackles in the NRL’s under-20 competition and sent it around.

The video was designed, Mailata said, ”to help generate interest in the rugby universe.”

It did way more than that.

”At the same time it generated attention in the NFL,” he said.

”I was quite lucky when I reached the crossroad in my life, the NFL pathway reached out to me as another avenue to pursue.

“That’s what it came down to.”

with agencies