![\"Billie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1f26d30eae26b4882dcc1afb0e0ac232ec55551b.png\")
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April 19, 2026 \u2014 7:32pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A trip to the emergency ward, an NRL comeback, and a win over the club he debuted for almost a decade earlier: Saturday was a big one for Matt Dufty.<\/p>\n When the 30-year-old stepped onto Accor Stadium on Saturday night, it had been 1421 days since he\u2019d last played in the NRL after spending four years in the English Super League. But it was like he\u2019d never left.<\/p>\n Dufty scored a try and ran 333 metres in the Rabbitohs 30-12 victory against the Dragons. It was the most metres he had ever gained in an NRL match.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a bit nervous this morning, but it wasn\u2019t [due to] playing the Dragons, it was more being back in the NRL,\u201d Dufty said after the match.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I had a lot to work on when I went to England, and I think footy gets easier the older you get. I\u2019ve come back a bit more mature, no need to push every pass. We\u2019ve got so much strike, you realise where you fit into the team and your role.\u201d<\/p>\n Dufty was given a one-year contract with South Sydney\u2019s NSW Cup team for 2026. But when Jye Gray went down with a shoulder injury against the Raiders a week ago, Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett handed Dufty a Rabbitohs debut.<\/p>\n When he packed his bags and left for England in 2022, Dufty didn\u2019t think he\u2019d play in the NRL again.<\/p>\n \u201cI think once you go there, you know it\u2019s hard to come back, even if you\u2019re killing it because the game is getting faster … [and then] you look at some of the fullbacks coming through, and they\u2019re electric,\u201d Dufty said.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, you do need an old head. I was lucky enough, even Jye Gray, he\u2019s young, and he\u2019s quick, and he\u2019s electric. He does everything, he\u2019s brave, so you know I just wanted to come and strengthen the squad because if Jye goes down like he did, then I can just step up and do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n The days before Dufty\u2019s NRL return were anything but relaxing, and hours before the match, Dufty and his wife were in hospital with health concerns for their baby daughter, who had been born a few days earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were in emergency this morning, I was going, \u2018Oh my God, but it was all good\u2019,\u201d Dufty said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was fine, you know what newborns are like, you just get everything checked. Thank God, she\u2019s all good.\u201d<\/p>\n All good, too, are Dufty and the Rabbitohs seven weeks into the season.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/823ef182c259fef6ff41c3626c0c0110d678a681ee15bad41971b3766d8a3d2b.jpeg\")
Matt Dufty during the Rabbitohs victory over the Dragons.NRL Images<\/p>\n![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ff9cd1119904961e4773bbd409710e890d269d6cb8535dd5104415a51fcaa059.jpeg\")
Matt Dufty scores for the Rabbitohs.NRL Images<\/p>\n![\"Billie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774476012_913_1f26d30eae26b4882dcc1afb0e0ac232ec55551b.png\")
Billie Eder<\/a> is a sports reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 19, 2026 \u2014 7:32pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-617448","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\/617448","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=617448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}