{"id":616238,"date":"2026-04-19T02:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T02:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616238\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T02:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T02:24:17","slug":"duftys-nrl-masterclass-hours-after-hospital-ed-visit-braidwood-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616238\/","title":{"rendered":"Dufty’s NRL masterclass hours after hospital ED visit | Braidwood Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rabbitohs'Rabbitohs’ Matthew Dufty scores a try just hours after a hospital emergency with his baby. Photo: Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS<\/p>\n

Only hours before the NRL comeback he thought would never happen, Matt Dufty had been waiting in a hospital emergency room with his newborn daughter. \u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s been a big few weeks for the South Sydney recruit, who was called up for his first NRL game in nearly four years just days after his partner gave birth to a baby girl. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Replacing the injured Jye Gray at fullback, Dufty ran for more than 300 metres and scored a try in Saturday night’s 30-12 defeat of his old side St George Illawarra.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But footy had been the farthest thing from Dufty’s mind on Saturday morning, as he awaited news on what turned out to be a false alarm over his daughter’s health.<\/p>\n

“We were in emergency this morning, I was going, ‘Oh my God, but it was all good’,” the former Dragons and Canterbury speedster said on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

“It was fine, you know what newborns are like – you just get everything checked. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“Thank God, she’s all good.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

Dufty’s impending fatherhood had been part of the reason he returned to Australia from a three-and-a-half year stint with English outfit Warrington.<\/p>\n

The Sam Burgess-coached side had also been keen to prioritise young fullback Cai Taylor-Wray.<\/p>\n

His career at a crossroads, Dufty called Souths assistant coach Ben Hornby, who helped pull together a one-year NSW Cup deal for his long-time mate.<\/p>\n

But 30-year-old Dufty had been around long enough to know that few make it all the way on the road back from Super League to the NRL.<\/p>\n

“Once you go there, you know it’s hard to come back, even if you’re killing it,” Dufty said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“Because the game’s getting faster (in the NRL) and younger kids are just getting that good.”<\/p>\n

When one of those young kids – Souths fullback Gray – suffered a shoulder injury in round six, coach Wayne Bennett opted against shifting Latrell Mitchell to No.1.<\/p>\n

Instead, Souths sought dispensation to reach outside their top-30 squad and call up a like-for-like replacement in Dufty.<\/p>\n

\"MatthewMatthew Dufty celebrates scoring a try against Dragons with his Rabbitohs teammates. (Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Dufty admitted it was all the sweeter to play so well against his old firm the Dragons, who opted against renewing his contract after the 2021 season.<\/p>\n

It has nevertheless pained Dufty to see the club languishing at the bottom of the ladder without a win in 2026.<\/p>\n

“It was (good to do it against the Dragons),” said Dufty.<\/p>\n

“I do feel bad for them, I’ve got a soft spot for the Dragons, St George junior, debuted there. It’s hard to see a club struggling.”<\/p>\n

Now, after his first taste of NRL action in 1,421 days, Dufty is hungry for more chances and feels he’s a more mature man and player than ever.<\/p>\n

Dufty has quit alcohol to focus on fatherhood and his career, and learned plenty of on-field lessons during his time abroad.<\/p>\n

“I had a lot to work on when I went to England. Footy gets easier the older you get,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve come back a bit more mature.”<\/p>\n

And even if he’s unsure of his future beyond 2026, there’s one thing Dufty does know.<\/p>\n

“When you play good footy, if it’s in Cup, if it’s in (first) grade, good things follow,” he said.<\/p>\n

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Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabbitohs’ Matthew Dufty scores a try just hours after a hospital emergency with his baby. Photo: Mark Evans\/AAP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-616238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}