Jordan Leading the Charge for Young Bulls
Rory Jordan has been a standout star for the Northbridge Bulls in the 2021 National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s competition.
At just 21-year-old the recently crowned Player of the Year for the NPL side at the 2021 Macarthur FC Awards night, has easily stepped into a leadership role within the team of emerging stars that has given him valuable experience that will be indispensable throughout his football career.
While the inexperience and of his young team makes it difficult to face up to the more experienced, physical teams in the competition, Jordan highlights the value of this experience in learning and developing as a footballer.
“We are the second-highest goal-scoring team this year, but I feel like sometimes our inexperience shows as a young team… maybe if we were a bit more experienced, we’d hold onto some of the leads and be a bit more clinical,” he explained.
“A lot of these players have a lot of NPL experience and some of the boys even have a lot of A-League experience.
“I’m not too worried about the results and whatnot I just feel like it’s a really good learning experience and I feel like that’s what we really need at this age.
“This year I think the coaching staff are putting a lot of trust into me and have given me a lot of confidence to go out and enjoy the way I like to play.
“A lot of the boys in our team are the same, they love to express themselves and I think that’s great, and I think it helps me a lot being able to rely on every single one of my teammates.”
While the lockdown has affected the rhythm of training and playing, Jordan is enjoying a bit of a break to relax while working on his fitness through a program provided by the Bulls.
“It feels a bit different having a weekend off where you can relax and not get kicked.
“Fitness-wise we’ve all got a program and we’re going to stick to it and hopefully the restrictions and the lockdown ends relatively soon, and we can get straight back into it.”
Jordan spoke about his gratitude for having a supportive group of family and friends to help him through the lockdown.
“My friends and I, we’ve known each other for a long time through school and extracurricular activities so I have a good support group, we can chat to each other anytime, anyplace, we’re a tight bunch.
“Even the group of boys in our football group that maybe we’ve only known for a couple of months really, we’ve bonded really well, and I feel like we can chat about anything and speak to each other whenever we need to.”
Looking towards the remainder of the season post-lockdown, Jordan is hoping that his side can finish strong and stand up against some of the competition’s strongest sides.
“If we can just finish strong and get a couple of results, I think that would be good for us.
“Our remaining opponents are all top six and pushing for finals so it’s going to be a tough run but I definitely back us, our coaching staff and the boys, to be able to put a few wins on and play well.”
-By Madeline Riley
