jurrah was born in yuendumu, in the northern territory. he was the first indigenous person from a remote community in central australia to play in the australian football league. he is an initiated member of the warlpiri people. his skin name is "jungarrayi". he grew up speaking four different dialects of the western desert, and learned english at school. jurrah began playing australian rules football when he was very young. he played for the local team, the yuendumu magpies, against other communities such as papunya, lajamanu and hermannsburg.