The Philadelphia Eagles were still celebrating as Jordan Mailata headed into a media room deep inside the Superdome.
As the hulking offensive lineman lumbered on to a chair, one of his compatriots draped an Australian flag around his shoulders.
The Kansas City Chiefs were hoping to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls in New Orleans.
Instead it was Mailata who made NFL history. He grew up playing rugby league and had not played a single snap when the Eagles drafted him in 2018.
Now he has played in two Super Bowls and this time he became the first Australian to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
It was the latest chapter in what his mentor this week called “the greatest story in football”.
Mailata grew up playing rugby league and as he was coming through the South Sydney Rabbitohs’ academy, he had to take some second jobs to pay the bills.
At different times he worked in stage-building, demolition, scaffolding and at Woolworths, as well as training with the Rabbitohs.
Asked what he learned from that, Mailata said: “That it sucked. The routine of it all was pretty gruesome, waking up at 4:30 in the morning, having to work and then go to training.
“Probably the hardest part of it was just trying to get into that routine and I think it kind of helped a lot with my transition [to the NFL].”
Mailata was playing for the Rabbitohs’ Under-20s, but there were concerns over his conditioning. Then he received surely the best advice he’s ever had: “Why don’t you play a sport that appreciates your size?”
At 6ft 8in and 365lb (166kg), that sport was American football and he joined the NFL’s fledgling International Player Pathway programme in 2018.
Former English rugby player Christian Scotland-Williamson was also on that year’s intake for the intensive 10-week training programme.
“His agility and speed for a person of his size, who hadn’t grown into his full frame yet, it was so impressive,” he said.
Cancelled golf trip was ‘greatest decision I ever made’
The IPP is designed to prepare NFL hopefuls for a shot at being selected in the NFL draft, giving them a crash course in American football and a platform to showcase their skills to NFL scouts.
Word spread to Eagles executive Howie Roseman, who convinced Jeff Stoutland, Philly’s offensive line coach and run game coordinator, to cancel a golf trip to go check him out.
“I didn’t know want to expect,” Stoutland told BBC Sport. “I was told he was a rugby player, so I was like ‘what am I doing’.
“It was the greatest decision I ever made – other than marrying my wife.
“I put on these drills and all of a sudden, this giant guy was just flying through the cones.
“I was like ‘God’, but I didn’t show that expression at the time because there was another team there and I didn’t want them to see my passion for him, I wanted to downplay it.
“And boy oh boy, I got out of that workout and called Howie and said ‘let me get my hands on this guy’.”
A few weeks later, Scotland-Williamson attended the 2018 draft with Mailata. He was so convinced that Mailata’s name would be called that he bought him a new outfit so he’d look good on TV.
The Eagles selected Mailata, who was aged 20, with the 233rd pick.
Mailata spent two seasons on Philadelphia’s practice squad, continuing his development.
“It was a grind for a few years,” said Stoutland. “Then all of a sudden one day, I mean it, the light came on and he became confident in his knowledge. Every year he just went to a new level.”
Mailata played his first game in 2020 and has become one of the NFL’s best offensive tackles, helping the Eagles reach the Super Bowl in 2023, where they were beaten by the Chiefs.
Last year he signed a three-year contract extension worth $66m (£53.3m) and is a key part of what was the biggest offensive line in Super Bowl history.
As an offensive tackle, he blocks the opposition’s defensive line to protect quarterback Jalen Hurts, who was Sunday’s Most Valuable Player, and open gaps for Saquon Barkley to run through.
The Eagles running back got enough yards on Sunday to set the all-time record for rushing yards in a season, including the play-offs, at 2,504.
“Saquon always says that he can’t be great without the greatness of others,” said Mailata after Sunday’s game.
“When I hear that I’m like ‘you know what, maybe it is me and not all Saquon, maybe there’s just a small chance’.”
Live primetime games feature player introductions and they state which college they played at. Since Mailata did not follow the traditional path to the NFL, he says ‘Stoutland University’.
And Stoutland believes that Mailata, 27, can get even better, adding “I don’t think there’s a top to this.
“Most players you coach, they’ve played through high school and college, so when they get to this level they’re done, they’re tapped out. But not him.”
Asked if he can believe how far he’s come, Stoutland replied: “It’s the greatest story in football, I mean it.”
Mailata completes ‘crazy’ journey
Current Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde and BBC Sport columnist Phoebe Schecter were on the IPP coaching staff in 2018.
Durde said that much of Mailata’s success is down to “the way he’s held himself in all these different environments” and that “he’s a loud, fun character that’s just got a heart of gold”.
Schecter and Scotland-Williamson, who was a groomsman at Mailata’s wedding in 2023, remember that he was always singing. He’s since appeared on The Masked Singer and he remains that fun-loving guy.
Now he can call himself a Super Bowl champion too. “That sounds crazy,” he told BBC Sport. “I cannot believe I’m here.
“The only thing I was thinking was how long the journey was and how it took everyone to get here.
“It’s funny how life works, my coach is tough and hard on me. I can only relate my success to how he coaches.”
As the only rugby player who has so far made a successful switch to the NFL, he will now be a poster boy for other international players hoping to make it the transition.
“Just give it a go,” he told them. “You can do anything you want if you have belief in yourself and someone who believes in you.”
BBC Sports
