Jayden Okunbor

Jayden Okunbor (born 2 March 1997) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played as a winger for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL.

Jayden Okunbor
Personal information
Born (1997-03-02) 2 March 1997
Sydney, Australia
Height196 cm (6 ft 5 in)
Weight108 kg (17 st 0 lb)
Playing information
PositionWing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2019– Canterbury Bulldogs 13 6 0 0 24
As of 22 September 2019
Source: [1]
Jayden Okunbor after playing a trial match for the Bulldogs against the Melbourne Storm at Belmore Oval in February 2016

Background

Okunbor was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and is of Nigerian descent on his fathers side.[2][3]

Okunbor played his junior football for the Milperra Colts and attended Picnic Point High School before being signed by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.[4] Okunbor played in the Bulldogs Under-20s team in 2015–2017. Okunbor spent 2018 playing in the Bulldogs 2018 NSW Cup premiership winning team. On 23 September 2018, Okunbor played on the wing in the Bulldogs NSW Cup Grand Final against the Newtown Jets in the 18–12 victory at Leichhardt Oval.[5] In the following week, on 30 September 2018, Okunbor played on the Wing in the State Championship Final against Queensland Cup winners the Redcliffe Dolphins, scoring a try in the 42–18 win.[6]

Playing career

2019

In Round 3 of the 2019 NRL season, Okunbor made his NRL debut for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs against the Wests Tigers, playing on the wing and having a solid match registering 214 metres in Canterbury's 22–8 win at Campbelltown Stadium.[7][8] In the next match in Round 4 against the Melbourne Storm, Okunbor had a powerhouse performance, scoring his first NRL career try, and ran for a whopping 290 metres even busting through 2 tackles from Storm captain Cameron Smith during Canterbury's unlucky 18–16 loss at AAMI Park.[9] On 29 April 2019, Okunbor was rewarded with a 2-year extension with Canterbury to the end of the 2021 season.[10]

On 21 May, Okunbor was ruled out for 6 weeks after suffering a toe ligament injury in Canterbury's Round 10 victory over the Gold Coast where Okunbor had scored 2 tries.[11]

Okunbor made a total of 10 appearances for Canterbury in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished 12th on the table. At one stage, Canterbury-Bankstown found themselves sitting last on the table and in real danger of finishing with the wooden spoon. However, for the third straight season, Canterbury achieved four upset victories in a row over Penrith, the Wests Tigers, South Sydney and Parramatta who were all competing for a place in the finals series and were higher on the table. Pay was credited with the late season revival as the side focused heavily on defence.[12][13]

2020

After being reinstated to the Canterbury club, Okunbor played his first game of the 2020 NRL season in round 18 against Manly-Warringah where Canterbury lost 32-20.[14]

Controversy

On 10th March 2020, Okunbor was stood down by Canterbury just two days before the start of the 2020 NRL season after it was alleged he met two girls during a school visit on a pre-season trip to Port Macquarie earlier in March along with teammate Corey Harawira-Naera, whilst a sexual encounter was alleged to occur, the school girls were of the age of consent and there was no criminal investigation pending. Both players were asked to "show cause" why the NRL should not cancel or suspend their registrations as players.[15]

On 11th March 2020, it was revealed that Okunbor had used Instagram to contact one of the school girls. In a leaked message obtained through Fox Sports, Okunbor said to the school girl "Yeah had to have a good look, what are we doing tonight?".[16]

On the same day, it was revealed that because of the two players actions, new major sponsor Rashays had cancelled their $2 million sponsorship with the club. Rashays had signed on to become Canterbury's front of shirt sponsor. Rashays owner Rami Ykmour released a statement saying "It’s a shame two players could wreck it for everyone, It’s disgusting. It's repulsive, to be honest. That’s something else. If they sack them, I would stand by the club and the NRL’s decision".[17]

On 1st April 2020, Okunbor had his contract terminated by Canterbury-Bankstown and was also deregistered by the NRL. Canterbury released a statement saying "The NRL have today deregistered both Jayden Okunbor and Corey Harawira-Naera with immediate effect and as a result their playing contracts with the Bulldogs have been cancelled, The conduct of the two players, on the eve of our final trial match, demonstrated an unacceptable lack of respect for their teammates, their coach and club officials, our hosts in Port Macquarie and fans of the game everywhere".[18]

On 8th April 2020, both players opted to appeal their contract terminations at an NRL Appeals Tribunal (an independent hearing headed by high court judge Ian Callinan AC QC). [19]

On 13th July 2020, the NRL Appeals Tribunal agreed (with the players appeal) that the punishment was too harsh, reversing the decision to deregister both Okunbor and Corey Harawira-Naera effective immediately. Okunbor was retrospectively given a 14 game ban (from the date of contract termination), a $22,500 fine and a course of counselling / community service. Corey Harawira-Neara received a retrospective 10 game ban (from the date of contract termination), and a $15,000 fine.[20]

References
  1. "Jayden Okunbor – Career Stats & Summary – Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org.
  2. "Belmore to Nigeria and back: Tears for Okunbor's stirring NRL debut". National Rugby League. 27 March 2019.
  3. "Meet Elliot Wallis – The explosive Hull KR winger called up by new Nigerian national team". Mirror. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  4. Nicolussi, Christian (26 March 2019). "Local junior Okunbor to get first start after Pay swings axe at Dogs". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  5. "NSW Cup grand final 2018: Bulldogs v Newtown Jets". 23 September 2018.
  6. "Bulldogs down Dolphins to win Intrust Super Championship". National Rugby League. 30 September 2018.
  7. "Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps". www.theaustralian.com.au.
  8. Pengilly, Adam (31 March 2019). "Bulldogs mark Pay's new deal with upset win over Tigers". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  9. "Dailytelegraph.com.au | Subscribe to The Daily Telegraph for exclusive stories". www.dailytelegraph.com.au.
  10. "Bulldogs move to tie up record breaking rookie Okunbor". National Rugby League. 9 April 2019.
  11. "Jayden Okunbor sidelined for four to six weeks with toe injury". Sporting News.
  12. "Spoons of wood, high hopes and chances lost... the final round storylines". Brisbane Times.
  13. "The Dean Pay way: 'Unashamedly' old school". NRL.
  14. "Remember me? Morgan Harper couldn't get a run at the Dogs. He just came back to haunt them". www.foxsports.com.au.
  15. "Two Canterbury stars stood down on eve of nrl season". www.foxsports.com.au.
  16. "Were you at school today messages between axed Canterbury star and teen revealed". www.foxsports.com.au.
  17. "'Disgusting, repulsive': Why Rashays walked from $2 million Bulldogs deal". www.smh.com.au.
  18. "Canterbury Bankstown players sacked over schoolgirl sex scandal". www.foxsports.com.au.
  19. "Okunbor and Harawira-Naera to appeal NRL deregistration". www.smh.com.au.
  20. "Okunbor, Harawira-Naera deregistrations reduced to bans and fines". www.nrl.com.
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