Mailata’s flying with the Eagles

GRIDIRON: Australian giant Jordan Mailata has achieved the improbable and made the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles’ roster.

It is an incredible feat considering the 21-year-old only played his first American football game four weeks ago.

The NFL’s 32 teams slashed their rosters from 90 players to 53 yesterday before Thursday’s start to the regular season.

“When I sit here and think about how far I’ve come, I’m happy with all the progress that I’ve made but I can’t settle for it,” he told the Eagles’ website.

Australians across the NFL appear to have survived the savage cuts with Mailata and Geelong rookie punter Cameron Johnston making the Eagles, defensive end Adam Gotsis remaining with the Denver Broncos and Aussie rules-bred punters Michael Dickson (Seattle Seahawks), Jordan Berry (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Lachlan Edwards (New York Jets) keeping their jobs.

Mailata, the 203cm tall, 157kg former South Sydney Rabbitohs prospect has captured the attention of the US media and NFL fans with his huge physique, work ethic and sense of humour.

The perfect place for Mailata is the Eagles’ practice squad where he could learn the NFL without the pressure of playing games, but other NFL teams could sign him if Philadelphia place him there. Mailata shows so much promise the Eagles feared he would be snapped up by rivals.