{"id":899071,"date":"2026-09-20T16:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899071\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T16:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:14:13","slug":"wallabies-jordan-petaia-happy-with-nfl-foray-despite-early-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899071\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies: Jordan Petaia happy with NFL foray despite early exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Returning Wallaby Jordan Petaia insists he\u2019s happy with his brief NRL foray despite failing to make an impact for the Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n

Petaia, 26, is back in the Wallabies fold for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup after being named in an extended 34-man Australian squad for next Sunday\u2019s Test against South Africa in Perth.<\/p>\n

The former Queensland Reds outside back quit rugby in late 2024 to chase his dream of playing in the NFL.<\/p>\n

In April 2025, he was signed by the Chargers on a three-year-deal as a tight-end after taking part in the NFL\u2019s International Player Pathway training program.<\/p>\n

However, four months later his time with the Chargers came to an abrupt halt when he was waived by the club after suffering a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Soon after, Petaia returned to rugby, joining French Top 14 side Perpignan.<\/p>\n

His global journey continued in July this year when he signed with Japanese club Urayasu D-Rocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy with how everything is going and where my life\u2019s at,\u201d Petaia said on Sunday from Wallabies camp in Perth, before adding he had \u201cnothing but good memories\u201d from his attempt to play in the NFL. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, (it was) unfortunate how it panned out, but … I\u2019m happy with how it went.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met so many cool people, made so many new friends, made some new memories as well, experienced a lot of cool stuff, and learned a lot of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the lessons Petaia learnt was ways to prepare for matches that he felt had him better suited for the rigours of rugby<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely found a way with my body a lot more over there and learned how to go about my daily life differently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched a lot of the pros there, so it was cool to see how they go about their business and pick up a few little things from them. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy body changed a lot over there, and then coming back (to rugby) last year, I\u2019ve come back down (with body weight) to what I was playing at for rugby. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had to run a lot less over there, so coming back (to rugby), I\u2019ve got to run a lot more, so I\u2019ve been smashing that out over the last year, so it has been humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petaia was glad to be back with the Wallabies, saying having his former Queensland coach Les Kiss in charge of the national team was a plus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of new faces, (and) a lot of new coaching staff. I\u2019ve got familiarity with \u2018Kissy\u2019, so it\u2019s cool having that, but it\u2019s cool to see some of the new changes, and a bit of the new culture that the boys are trying to bring in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really looking good, and it\u2019s fun to be around … (to) learn the system, inject myself, and ask a lot of questions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting my head around it all still, but it\u2019s been cool to get help from the boys, and it\u2019s definitely helping fast-track things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Recalled Wallaby Jordan Petaia has \u2018good memories\u2019 of his NFL stint<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Returning Wallaby Jordan Petaia insists he\u2019s happy with his brief NRL foray despite failing to make an impact…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[467719,467715,467727,325111,166114,376963,467710,467707,376730,467706,380521,467740,376637,467717,467711,404966,467721,443449,64,63,113050,10966,467723,400250,395254,467738,404636,467718,525,467712,467716,467734,381378,467705,467729,379530,467725,43810,25356,467709,45755,424086,25723,376762,467744,379547,467745,467722,43961,381348,593,467713,467732,6622,46,375308,467742,467714,59906,467739,760,467720,467730,467726,1183,85,383337,8825,467731,23275,33947,382205,376549,423919,387552,467736,467735,467733,467708,41710,467724,467737,378758,103578,467728,403925,378012,364611,25962,2500,467741,467743,93597],"class_list":["post-899071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-s-international-player-pathway-training-program-however","tag-s-test","tag-s-wallabies-return","tag-my-life","tag-166114","tag-a-bit","tag-a-few-little-things","tag-a-hamstring-injury-soon","tag-a-lot","tag-a-plus","tag-a-three-year-deal","tag-a-tight-end","tag-a-way","tag-an-abrupt-halt","tag-an-extended-34-man-australian-squad","tag-an-impact","tag-an-nfl-dream","tag-april-2025","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-body-weight","tag-charge","tag-cool-stuff","tag-every-moment","tag-familiarity","tag-fast-track-things","tag-four-months","tag-french-top-14-side-perpignan-his-global-journey","tag-fun","tag-good-memories","tag-his-attempt","tag-his-brief-nrl-foray","tag-his-dream","tag-his-former-queensland-coach-les-kiss","tag-his-nfl-stint","tag-his-time","tag-japanese-club-urayasu-d-rocks","tag-jordan-petaia","tag-july","tag-kissy","tag-last-year","tag-late-2024","tag-matches","tag-my-body","tag-my-daily-life","tag-my-head","tag-new-coaching-staff","tag-new-faces","tag-newswire-sport","tag-next-sunday","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-lessons","tag-nothing-but-good-memories","tag-part","tag-perth","tag-perth-wa","tag-perth-the-former-queensland-reds","tag-petaia","tag-questions","tag-recalled-wallaby-jordan-petaia","tag-rugby","tag-so-many-cool-people","tag-so-many-new-friends","tag-some-new-memories","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-stuff","tag-sunday","tag-the-2023-rugby-world-cup","tag-the-boys","tag-the-chargers","tag-the-club","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-last-year","tag-the-lessons","tag-the-los-angeles-chargers","tag-the-national-team","tag-the-new-changes","tag-the-new-culture","tag-the-nfl","tag-the-nfl-in","tag-the-pros","tag-the-rigours","tag-the-system","tag-the-wallabies-fold","tag-the-wallabies","tag-their-business","tag-this-year","tag-wa","tag-wallabies","tag-wallabies-camp","tag-wallaby-jordan-petaia","tag-ways"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}