Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nNext Wednesday\u2019s series opener will be his third Origin game for the Blues, with Saifiti coming off the bench in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s playing better now than he was back then, with the 30-year-old averaging as many minutes as he did when he set his career high in his debut season a decade ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think I wasn\u2019t ready,\u201d he replied when asked how he\u2019d changed as a player to the man who earnt a late call-up after an injury to Jordan McLean. <\/p>\n
Depleted Dolphins down Ricky’s Raiders | 02:21<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time, I actually wasn\u2019t even meant to play. Jordan McLean did his hamstring and I got chucked in the deep end. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough I handled it pretty well I thought, I was still a kid and pretty raw. So this time around I\u2019m a lot more experienced and I just can\u2019t wait to get out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just so grateful to be back in here. Laurie\u2019s trusted me to come in and do a job, so I\u2019m going to do my best to repay him and repay the state and do my job for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saifiti will provide size and strength off the bench for the Blues. Picture: Matt King\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Knights enforcer is the only recognised prop forward on the NSW bench, which suggests the Blues will look to play a more up-tempo style of footy under the game\u2019s new rules.<\/p>\n
But size still matters in the Origin arena, with Saifiti keen to make an impact in the middle before superstar Payne Haas likely returns from injury in game two. <\/p>\n
Fletch & Hindy mongrel mascot race | 11:59<\/p>\n
Next week\u2019s game will hold extra meaning for Saifiti after twin brother Daniel was forced to medically retire earlier this month due to a chronic shoulder injury. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got that last name on my back already, but especially with what happened with him recently, I\u2019m going to be trying a little bit harder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recalled Blues prop Jacob Saifiti says a cryptic pre-game message at Magic Round played on his mind and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[24164,64,63,689,330632,128758,4026,9124,330633,330634,788,24320,2105,4494,1084,6406,49979,12412,18656,761,762,673,4495,158,677,13390,269536,668,100733,38710,85,152608,125787],"class_list":["post-686332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-assistant-coach","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-boys-coach","tag-brett-white","tag-bulldogs","tag-chris-hyde","tag-chronic-shoulder-injury","tag-cryptic-pre-game-message","tag-daniel","tag-debut-season","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-jai-arrow","tag-jordan-mclean","tag-laurie-daley","tag-martin-gabor","tag-matt-king","tag-matty-johns","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-south-wales","tag-newcastle-knights","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-payne-haas","tag-pic-desk","tag-press-conference","tag-rickys","tag-series-opener","tag-sports","tag-up-tempo-style","tag-wyong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686332","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=686332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779017096_680_poster-fallback.png\"\/)