Why big Manny chose French rugby over the chance to become the next Mailata

Manny Meafou doesn’t do regrets. Not any more, anyway.

The big France lock, who grew up in Brisbane before becoming a superstar for Toulouse and the French national team, is able to look back at all the T-junctions of his career and know he made the right calls.

Mostly. But now and then Jordan Mailata will sign a new contract for the Philadelphia Eagles, and man, all those zeroes.

“Early on when I made the decision to leave that behind and pursue this rugby dream, I did wonder what could have been,” Meafou says. “It’s only natural to get those ‘what ifs’.”

Meafou will be one of three Australian-raised players in the French team taking on the Wallabies on Saturday, and in one of the other sliding doors versions of his life, he might have been wearing gold.

In another, Meafou might be in the USA, watching the game on TV as an NFL player. That path opened when the Ipswich kid went to an NFL International Player Combine on the Gold Coast in 2018. The combine gives aspiring footballers the chance to showcase their abilities to see if they can cut it in the NFL.

As Meafou told this masthead in a 2023 interview, the mountainous scaffolder had been impressing in Brisbane and Sydney club rugby, and in the NRC, but was struggling to get a professional rugby contract in Australia due to his size.

His dimensions – 203cm and 145kg – excited NFL scouts, however, and he was invited to the Gold Coast. Meafou took up the offer for a free flight home, and ended up getting a three-month contract offer and a ticket to the NFL Academy in Florida as well.

This was a year after Mailata – a guy too big for the Rabbitohs – had taken the same path. But after telling his family he was off to the US, Meafou’s agent floated his CV to some French rugby clubs and three bit: including powerhouse Toulouse.

Certainty in France won over potential fame and fortune in the NFL – Mailata had only just won his first NFL deal – and Meafou changed his travel plans.

The man who steered Mailata to NFL, and organised the NFL Combine in 2018, still remembers Meafou.

“His agent got some rugby union offers in front of him, which was a shame,” says sports agent Chris Orr. “He had the opportunity to become the next Jordan Mailata.

“He had the attributes. I don’t know what level of intelligence he has, because you definitely need intelligence with the amount of plays you have to get across in an NFL system.

“But as far as all the physical aspects, he was certainly the pick of that group and he had the potential to take it further. Could he have done what Jordan did? That’s hard to say. Jordan is a special athlete. But he had the size and strength and clearly showed some promise.”

While Meafou is well paid at Toulouse, likely on over a million a season, that’s pocket change for Mailata.

The left tackle’s rookie contract was good money and his two extensions at the Philadelphia Eagles since have had incredible figures attached: in 2021 he got a four-year deal worth $A96m and in 2025, the Super Bowl-winning left tackle signed a three-year deal worth $A104m.

So of course there have been ‘what ifs’ for Meafou. But they also include the outcome that the NFL option didn’t go anywhere, like most other Aussies who have taken the path since.

“I’m incredibly happy with my decision,” Meafou says. “I live a great life, I earn good money, and while maybe in another world or another dimension I could have been an NFL superstar, I’m happy with my choice.

“I’m in a great space playing for an amazing country that gave me a chance to live my dream. No regrets, no looking back.”

Being back in Brisbane this week has been a trip for Meafou. Most of his family still live in Ipswich or other parts of the city, and the French have been training in the opulent surrounds of Nudgee College. Meafou used to play against the school for Ipswich Grammar.

With small kids, holidays back to Australia for Meafou and wife Jada are not as frequent as they’d like.

“If we can stay in France, and our families come over, it’s a bit better because we’ve got two little kids now. Flying 30 hours with them is not ideal. But we do try to get back and see family when possible,” he says.

“We definitely call France home now. Being over in Toulouse is such a privilege — to be able to be there and play for that club.

“It’s an interesting, different feeling coming back with the French team. You’re back in a familiar place, but you’re still working and you’re still speaking French. It’s really cool.

“It’s great to experience Brisbane through their eyes. For them, Australia is such a long way away from where they grew up, so it’s a totally different look and culture. Because it’s something I’ve been used to, so seeing them experience it for the first time in a place I also call home is really interesting.”

They may be “home” this week, but there are no divided loyalties for Meafou, or fellow “True Bleus” Moses Alo-Emile and Tom Staniforth. All three are  devoted to France after being given opportunities in the French system, so when their five-year residency periods expired and the national team showed them even more love, the trio were all-in for their adopted country.

Meafou said he felt “let down” by Australian rugby, having been deemed too big but also unable to get a contract to train full-time and get into professional shape.

“When I first left Australia, I did have some thoughts about things I left behind that I wished I could have done,” he said.

“Growing up, playing Super Rugby was always the dream. Playing professional rugby, earning good money, and providing for my parents —doing all that was the goal.

“But now, God has put me in a position where I can do the exact same thing over in France, and France has given me the opportunity to achieve exactly what I dreamed of, just in a different country and competition. It’s not something I regret at all, nor something I think about often.”

Meafou played against the Wallabies last year in Paris, but this week will be his first game in Australia as a professional rugby player. It is a rare chance to play in front of family and friends, and he is scrambling to get enough tickets to a game that is set to sell-out.

“Thirty is the baseline number I requested, but I genuinely think it’s going to be much more than that,” he said.

“It’s a pure pleasure to play at Suncorp. When they first announced the World Cup was coming to Australia, I set a goal in my head to make the squad and play in front of my family on Australian soil. That dream has come a bit earlier via this summer tour, so I’m just scrambling to secure as many tickets as possible.”

Meafou says he’s stoked for Staniforth, who he threw an arm around in the second row of the NSW Country Eagles in 2018.

“Seeing him sign to Castres, do so well in the Top 14, become one of the top locks, and now join the French national team … I’m just so happy for him,” he said.

“He’s a journeyman who has done a lot, but he still has so much ahead of him. He’s a hell of a player and I’m stoked to have him on our side.”