The form of rookie star Jahream Bula has been one of the few highlights for Wests Tigers this season – but the fullback has revealed only a chance match with a footy legend stopped him from being lost to rugby league.
The 21-year-old who has so much talent for basketball that he went to the US to play for two years and his prowess even attracted the attention of NBA scouts.
‘At the time, I just didn’t want anything to do with rugby league,’ he told 7News.
NRL star Jahream Bula of the Wests Tigers came perilously close to playing basketball in the US after NBA scouts spotted him
The 21-year-old Tiger loves shooting hoops every bit as much as he loves his rugby league
‘I went over because I knew I had athleticism and a bit of skill and there was a scout there who came to watch me play.’
Things were on a roll in the States but circumstances brought him back to Australia, where he went to watch his cousin play in a local rugby league sevens tournament on the NSW Central Coast – and ran into an icon of the game.
‘Greg Inglis was there playing too and the team was short of players so my cuz [cousin] asked would I fill in,’ he recalled.
‘I had a chance to play with Greg [Inglis] so I said sure, but I had to borrow a pair of boots.
‘It was weird, I never thought I’d be taking the field with him [Inglis] ever.’
Bula has been Wests’ lucky charm this year, with the club winning two of the three games he has started in – their only two victories so far in 2023
Following the tournament, in which his footwork served him very well, he thought he’d make some tentative enquiries about rugby league.
So he phoned a friend and asked him how he could get a trial at the Tigers.
Rugby league wasn’t foreign to him at all, in fact he was a schoolboy star playing at the famed Keebra High in Queensland alongside Broncos sensation Reece Walsh.
‘One of my best mates played for the Tigers and I gave him a call after the tournament and asked if he could get me in the Tigers system,’ Bula said.
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‘He said he would give the [Jersey] Flegg [under 21s] coach a call, the coach then called me and said to come in for training.
‘The next week after that I was training with the NRL squad once a week.
‘It was all happening so fast.’
That, according to the Tigers’ new sensation, was the day his mojo for football came flooding back.
‘Right now it’s just surreal. Everything is happening so quickly, I’m still processing it.’
Bula, who was born in New Zealand but moved with his family to the Gold Coast eight years ago, is rapidly proving to be the club’s lucky charm. He’s played three games with them and has starred their only two wins.
Last week he pulled off a near impossible stop of flying Dragons winger Mikeale Ravalawa who looked certain to clinch a last minute win for the big red V until Bula put his entire body on the line and crashed him into touch.
Bula was sitting in the grandstand getting ready to watch a mate play against NRL superstar Greg Inglis (pictured together) in a sevens match when the team was a player short, so Bula borrowed some boots and joined the legend on the field
His courage and athleticism have been noticed by everyone in rugby league, as has his off-field passion.
He and his girlfriend run a Youth Work Program each Saturday evening providing activities and food for the teens in his community.
Just like Latrell Mitchell of the Rabbitohs does, Bula goes about his off-field business in private and without fanfare.
This Saturday Bula will be in the No.1 jersey for his Tigers while Mitchell will wear the same number for the high-flying Bunnies.
Both men are on fire and their clash alone will be worth the price of admission into Accor Stadium.
‘I’m ready for the challenge [of playing Latrell], that’s what I’ve trained my whole life for,’ Bula said.
‘A guy of his skill and physicality will be a great challenge but I’ll just keep doing my job.’
