The footy star who doesn’t watch footy
When Jordan Pereira isn’t scoring sensational tries on the Dragons’ left wing, the last thing he wants to do is watch, talk or even think about scoring sensational tries on the Dragons’ left wing.
That doesn’t mean the 26-yearold isn’t one to take his football seriously. It means the opposite.
When Wellington-born Pereira is playing or training for the Dragons, he is consumed by the task in front of him. The athletic finishes he rolls out are not as easy as he makes them look.
But the moment he steps foot off the field, his attention is on one of two other parts of his life which are similarly consuming. Firstly, that means spending time with his fiancee, Sarah.
‘‘I suppose it would be like you reading the paper . . . I suppose you don’t like doing it?’’ Pereira asked a group of journalists
‘‘I’ve never really been into footy. I just enjoy playing it.’’ Jordan Pereira
huddled around him in Sydney.
‘‘I like to take my mind as far away from football as possible. It’s really consuming, the sport. It’s mentally taxing and I like to do stuff with my fiancee.
‘‘We don’t have much time with each other so if we just sat around watching footy it probably isn’t going to get me in the good books [laughs].’’
Rather than spending time on the couch watching the rest of the NRL fight for two points, Pereira can often be found at a local swimming hole or on the beach near his Illawarra home.
‘‘Normally I’m trying to recover so it might be going to the beach so we just go bushwalking
and try to find a local swimming hole,’’ he said. ‘‘It is kind of footy related because my body is in pain but we are going about it in a therapeutic angle instead of just sitting there and watching more footy.’’
But if he’s not playing footy or spending time with his fiancee, attention turns to his favourite sport – NBA basketball.
‘‘I’ve never really been into footy. I just enjoy playing it. If I’m going to watch anything I will watch basketball,’’ Pereira said.