When Jackson Jury grew up watching the New Zealand All Blacks on TV at his home in Melbourne, he never imagined that he’d one day be coached by one of his idols on the Gold Coast.
But sticking to the norm has never been Jury’s style.
While most of his classmates chose AFL, Jury played rugby. And while the few friends who did follow rugby cheered on the Wallabies, Jury stayed true to his roots supporting the All Blacks.
Growing up in a rugby-mad family, it was his dad Dwayne who got Jury onto the field.
“My dad’s from New Zealand so that led me down the rugby path,” he said.
“I grew up watching rugby and I started playing in Melbourne when I was about four years old.”
No stranger to the top level, Jury has played at a representative level since he was 10 with the now disbanded Melbourne Rebels.
“I played with the Rebels from U12s through to U20s,” Jury said.
“In high school I spent a year and a half living in Wellington playing rugby there, and I also spent six months playing for Nudgee College in Brisbane before I moved back home to Brighton for my last two years of school.”
Jury was also the only Victorian selected in the 2024 Australian Schoolboys Rugby team that played two games in Fiji.
“It was pretty great to be the only Victorian selected for the team,” he said.
“We unfortunately lost both games over in Fiji. They were an unreal team, and you know what they say, ‘you don’t beat Fiji at home’.”
The Bachelor of Laws student made the shift to the Gold Coast at the start of the year after securing a Sports Leadership Scholarship and says he loves that at Bond you don’t feel like you’re ‘just another number’.
“When I knew the Rebels weren't going to be around, I started looking for other options and Bond gave me a platform to be able to study and play rugby at the same time which I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else,” Jury said.
“I feel like the Bond rugby program is quite similar to a lot of rep programs, which is what you want.It's a high level of training.”
Bond’s Colts 1 coach and former All Black Rico Gear says Jury is a huge asset to their side.
“Jackson is a dangerous player,” Gear said.
“He's got really good footwork, he breaks the line a lot and he's got a massive boot, so he's got a lot of good tools there.
“He’s been pretty impressive over the last month which has been good for us.”
Jury has come into the Colts 1 side at a stellar time with the squad sitting on the top of the ladder with three rounds to go before finals begin.
“I think Rico’s guidance is really good; he's obviously a really experienced coach,” Jury said.
“We’ve been going pretty well. We have had a few blips and I’m not that happy about the weekend’s performance against Brothers.
“We have a lot to fix but I don’t think we’ve hit our ceiling yet – there are a lot of things we are doing really well.”
Beyond the rugby field, Jury followed in his mother’s footsteps to study law with the hope of going into commercial law upon graduating.
“At school, law was something I was good at and enjoyed and really connected with,” he said.
“I've always loved true crime documentaries and it felt like the obvious choice to me.”
But before entering the corporate world, Jury wants to make it big in the rugby world.
“I would like to make Australian under 20s next year off the back of a strong under 19s this year,” Jury said.
“And in the long term I’d love to play international rugby.
“I’m inspired by Tyler Campbell. He plays my position and is the skipper for first grade and is a really, really good player who brings great culture to the club.”