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Former rugby player becomes the heaviest athlete in the NFL
By Ian Cameron
A former rugby player from Australia has become the heaviest player in the NFL after getting drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth round.
Daniel Faalele grew up playing rugby union and basketball in Melbourne but was lured by the bright lights of the NFL after the enormous athlete piqued the interest of American football scouts in 2017.
Even by the standards of the NFL, Faalele is a colossus. The 22-year-old stands 6'8 and tips the scales at a jaw-dropping 174kg (384Ibs), or 27 stone in Imperial.
He is the fifth heaviest player in NFL history according to The Washington Post.
He will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow Australian giant - Jordan Mailata - whose meteoric rise in America's game seems to have set a mini-trend in recruitment whereby scouts are seeking to unearth outsized athletes from Australasia.
The 6'8, 157kg Mailata swapped a potential career in the NRL for a shot at the NFL's International Player Pathway. It was a decision that paid off, with Mailata now earning $16,000,000 dollars a year as a regular starter for the Philidelphia Eagles.
The trail has certainly been blazed for the aspiring Faalele, who has already come long way since playing rugby union in Victoria as a teenager.
According to one anecdote in The Canberra Times, Faalele shunned rugby union as he didn't enjoy injuring teammates and opponents in the tackle as a teenager. At 13 years of age he was 5'11 and 100kg, resulting in concerned parents from opposing teams accusing him of being over age and refusing to let their average-sized children play against him.
He was first scouted by the University of Hawaii, before being sent to the IMG Academy in Florida, where he was tutored in a game he was more or less completely unfamiliar with. Head of football at the programme, Kevin Wright, told ESPN in an interview that the monstrous Australian was the “only human I’ve ever met in person who was that size was Shaquille O’Neal”.
Although still considered to be learning his trade, he found his feet as an offensive linesman in college football, where he brought his rugby experience to bear, even carrying the ball on occasion.
While his size has seen him jump the queue in the sport, it's safe to say he wouldn't have been drafted had he not shown promise beyond the scope of the recruiters' measuring tape and weighing scale. The hopes are that he will continue to develop on the Ravens' NFL roster, a franchise well known to favour outsized athletes in their offensive line.
Time will tell but the future looks bright.
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"Now we have one of the most competitive football markets in the world and we are the canary in the coalmine in terms of change and dealing with that."
And there lies the rub. We don't care about your problems with Aussie Rules or Rugby League. If you're in the job just to save your union from competition by making our fantastic game more like one-dimensional boring league then all the rest of your promises are just BS. We'll be watching you like hawks to try and keep you in line, but - like Beaumont - you'll probably be able to push through whatever you like and the game will lose once again, but this time potentially terminally. I believe that your selection could be the worst decision WR have ever made.
Go to commentsAnd Scott Robertson not going so well is he.
Not a bad effort but a correction. McKenzie was not born in NSW so is not a Tah. He was born in Victoria. Played for the Brumbies and coached Qld and also played and then later coached NSW, until the self entitled Tah players decided to stab him in the back. And who was the captain of the Tahs at the time leading the back stabbing. Well, well it was none other than Phil Waugh, current Rugby Australia CEO. Who recently tried to deny he had met Suallii at Hamish McLennan's house pre signing, until McLennan outed him recently as a bald faced liar as he was in fact there.
I doubt very much if McKenzie, who was also assistant coach to Eddie Jones in Jones first stint coaching Australia, would appreciate being labelled a Tah, given it was the Tahs Hooper and Beale and Cheika who stabbed him in the back again when he walked away thru lack of support from Hooper and Rugby Australia.
Schmidt might have theoretically better credentials, even tho he dumped Ireland in the brink but he had to start somewhere. You can't argue if you think he is great that Schmidt should never have been given an opportunity.
Schmidt lacks a crucial ingredient. He's not Australian. It does matter, which as a Bokke you would well know.
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