From fallen star to All Star: Jayden Nikorima’s improbable return to the top

Jayden Nikorima narrowly avoided jail three years ago. At the time, he wished he hadn’t.

“It was kind of weird. At the time, I sort of wanted to go inside,” Nikorima said.

“I was just not in a good headspace. I was not happy. I felt like I had lost all hope. I couldn’t play footy. I wanted to go inside.

“It wasn’t really a wake-up call until probably a year later. Thinking about it now, that’s the last place I’d want to go. I just needed a reset.”

Nikorima’s identity was built around rugby league, but in December 2018 it was taken away. A promising career, in which he made his NRL debut for glamour club the Sydney Roosters while still in his teens, appeared over just after it began.

Police charged the New Zealand-born playmaker for his role in a bungled plot to blame a teammate for a positive drugs test – his second – that he submitted following Mad Monday celebrations. The tricolours responded by tearing up his $475,000-a-season contract.

Jayden Nikorima trains with the Storm as he looks to make a comeback to the NRL.Credit:Getty

Having already incurred one strike under the game’s illicit drugs policy, Nikorima tried to avoid a second by offering fellow Wyong Roos player Brad Keighran $7000 to take the fall.

Keighran agreed to sign a statutory declaration in which he falsely claimed he spiked Nikorima’s drink, despite the fact he was working as a plumber at the time of the Mad Monday incident.

Had the statutory declaration been formally submitted, Nikorima might have got his wish and been put behind bars.

Keighran pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a six-month intensive correction order, while Nikorima served a 12-month community corrections order and was fined $5000.

“I feel sorry for who I was back then, for even wanting to go inside,” Nikorima told The Sun-Herald. “I’m so glad that I was able to get out of that hole, that dark place and be happy.”

Indeed, Nikorima couldn’t be happier. In one of the most remarkable comebacks of them all, the 25-year-old has been offered not only a Melbourne Storm contract, but an even more unexpected gift: the opportunity to represent the Maori side alongside older brother Kodi in next weekend’s All Stars clash at Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium.

It is a redemption story that began when Nikorima was banned from football for two years, forcing him to reflect on the mistakes of the past.

“Honestly, my trouble definitely started from when I was at school,” he said. “I made a lot of mistakes at school and I got away with it because I was good at footy.

“When kids weren’t wearing the right uniform, when they were at school and doing the wrong thing, they wouldn’t be playing the following Tuesday, whereas I could do that and was still playing.

“I didn’t have any consequences for my mistakes at a young age and that fed through when I got out of high school.

“My parents always said that if you make a mistake, you’ll get found out. Unfortunately for me – or fortunately, depending on how you look at it – I got found out in my second year of high school. That’s what led to it.”

Nikorima has used his time out of the spotlight to become a better person. It began with courses to become a fitness instructor and then a chance meeting during a football army camp in Brisbane. It was there he was introduced to Glenn Azar, a former soldier and mindset coach who became a mentor.

That relationship prompted Nikorima to undertake a series of charitable projects with youth in the community, including a 100 kilometre fundraiser run.

Jayden Nikorima was a rising star with the Roosters, before it all went wrong.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“That made me realise that life is bigger than rugby league,” he said. “I can narrate my own story, I don’t still have to be this party boy that I was portrayed to be in the media.

“Off the back of my story, which has been a bit of a bumpy road, I didn’t let my mistakes define who I was.”

Melbourne tried to sign Nikorima six years ago. He knocked them back in favour of the Roosters, admitting that avoiding the Storm’s gruelling pre-seasons was a factor in the decision.

“I told them that while I didn’t sign six years ago, you’ve definitely got the better version of me [now],” he said.

After being sacked by the Roosters, it emerged in court that Nikorima had “torched more than $1 million” after spiralling out of control and into depression. Now he has another reason for staying away from the drink and drugs, having become a father to 10-week-old Mali.

“It’s evened me out a bit,” he said. “Before I had a kid, I was going from one friendship group to another and sort of never home. It made me focus more on my footy and family.”

The All Stars match will be an opportunity to show how far Nikorima has come as a player and person.

“I’m so fortunate to be able to learn from those mistakes, that it did happen at a young age,” he said.

“Even if I didn’t score this contract at the Storm, I was proud of the person that I was becoming, with all the work that I was doing outside in the community, being a good person.

“I’m still only 25 and I’ve got many years ahead of me to play in the NRL.

“The biggest thing is I’ve been able to learn from my mistakes rather than let them define who I was.”

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