Seven years ago I had never played American Football, now I can make NFL history with Super Bowl

Jordan Mailata is looking to etch his name in the history book.

The Philadelphia Eagles left tackle will be the first Australian to play in two Super Bowls.

Only three other Aussies have even played in the big game.

Punters Ben Graham with Arizona in 2008, Mitch Wishnowsky with San Francisco in 2019 and Arryn Siposs with Philadelphia and Mailata back in 2022.

Siposs is no longer a member of the Eagles.

Jesse Williams, native Australian, won a Super Bowl as a member of the Seattle Seahawks in 2013, but missed the entire season due to injury.

Mailata is looking to be the first Australian to win a Super Bowl and play in the actual game.

He has already played on the sport’s grandest stage before, as previously mentioned, now he is looking to finish the job this time around.

“You can’t count us out. No one should ever count us out,” Mailata said after the NFC championship. 

“A lot of people on this team will have the same chip I have on my shoulder. Tonight we proved we are going to continue showing up for each other.

“We always speak about you can’t be great without the greatness of others and that showed tonight. We just kept going.

“We let one slip away in ’22 and all I am thinking about is finishing the job.”

Mailata and the Eagles fell to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII and will now have a chance to avenge their loss against the same team in Super Bowl LIX.

They will be hoping to have better success the second time around.

For Mailata, it’s been one of the most unexpected journeys in NFL history to get to this point.

He wasn’t even playing organized American football until the Eagles took a flyer on him in the 2018 draft with the 233rd overall pick in the seventh round.

He grew up in Australia playing rugby league.

And now seven years later, he has a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

Mailata has proven to be one of the biggest draft steals of all-time, after earning second team All-Pro honors this season, after signing a massive three-year, $66 million extension that included $48 million guaranteed and a $20 million signing bonus, last spring.

His contract extension put him in the upper echelon of the elite tackles around the league, behind only Laremy Tunsil, Trent Williams and Andrew Thomas.

Mailata has anchored one of the game’s best offensive lines, with fellow tackle Lane Johnson and guard Landon Dickerson, helping running back Saquon Barkley have a historic year, rushing well over 2,000 yards.

The Eagles offensive line is a well-oiled machine.

The big man from down under has accomplished everything there is to accomplish since coming over from Australia in 2018, except for one thing.

Win a Super Bowl.

He got to this point once already, and failed.

Now is Mailata’s shot at redemption.

There’s a whole country rooting for him.

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