To Every Kid Who Has a Dream: Jordan Petaia Was You

(Inspirational story for your kids and grandkids)

This Sunday in Perth, the Wallabies take on the Springboks, and Jordan Petaia is back in the squad for the first time in three years. Whether he runs onto the field or cheers his mates from the stands doesn’t change a thing about this story, and it shouldn’t. The selection isn’t the point. The journey that got him there is, and what it says to every young person holding a dream they’re not sure they’re allowed to chase.

Before the gold jersey, before the World Cups, Jordan was a kid in Brisbane with a ball and a big imagination. He wasn’t born a Wallaby. Nobody is. He was a boy who loved the game, trained when no one was watching, and dared to believe he might one day play at the highest level. At 19 he did, making his Test debut at the 2019 World Cup in Japan and scoring a try against Uruguay. He went on to play two World Cups and 31 Tests for his country.

By any measure, that’s success. Had he stayed, he might well have clocked up 60-plus Test caps by now. Most people would have stayed right there, where it was safe.

He didn’t.

The Dream That Didn’t Go to Plan

In 2024, Jordan walked away from the security of Australian rugby to chase a completely different dream: the NFL. It wasn’t a whim. It was a dream he’d grown up with, one he described as “a dream I shared with my old man,” his late father. Taking the chance was his way of honouring it.

He started again at the bottom, in a new country, in a sport he had never played professionally, surrounded by athletes who had been playing it since childhood. He earned a contract with the Los Angeles Chargers. Then a hamstring injury he thought was minor turned out to be far more serious, and within months that chapter was over.

Some people would call that a failure. But how can it be failure to honour someone you love by having the courage to try? Asked about it this month, Jordan said simply: “I look back and smile.” There was no blame, no bitterness, only the understanding that this is sport, and that the experience taught him more about himself than he could have learned any other way.

Then he did the hardest part: he got back up. He played in France, then signed in Japan, and quietly rebuilt, game by game, until the Wallabies came calling again.

Success and Failure Are Not the Point

Here is the message I want every young person to hear.

Don’t measure your dream by whether it “works out.” Measure it by who you become in the chasing. The courage it takes to try, the discipline to train, the humility to start over and the resilience to rise after a setback are yours forever. No scoreboard can give them to you and no injury can take them away.

Jordan’s NFL dream didn’t end with a Super Bowl, but he came home stronger, wiser, and more sure of who he is. That isn’t failure. That’s growth, and growth is the real prize.

Sport Is a Chapter, Not the Whole Book

Professional sport, for those privileged enough to play it, is a short season in a long life. Careers end, sometimes on your own terms and sometimes not. What lasts is character: how you treated people, whether you stayed humble, and whether you remembered where you came from.

So if you’re given the opportunity, cherish it. Remember your roots: the family who drove you to training, the coaches who gave their Saturdays, and the community that believed in you before anyone else did. And remember that whatever happens on the field, it is only ever the beginning of the next chapter, one that is still yours to write.

To Every Kid Who Has a Dream

Maybe you’re on a school team, a local club, a backyard with a borrowed ball. Maybe your dream isn’t sport at all. It might be music, science, business, or something no one has thought of yet. Maybe people have told you it’s unrealistic.

Jordan Petaia was you. He was a kid with a dream and no guarantees. He’s shown that you can chase something bold, fall short, and still come out of it a better person, with the door still open to what comes next.

So dream big. Challenge yourself. Don’t be afraid of falling, because it’s all part of the story.

Your next chapter is waiting to be written.

Regardless of whether coach Les picks him to play, no doubt his heart is with team Wallabies.

Let’s go boys!