Code Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cJai was noticing some changes to himself. He couldn\u2019t hold the ball properly and didn\u2019t have any strength in one of his arms. He could hold the ball, but he wasn\u2019t gripping it properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the weights room, he found himself not as strong as he had been.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething wasn\u2019t right. He kept training with us, but we took him out of contact (tackling and wrestling) sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought maybe he had a shoulder injury and that\u2019s when the process started, to find out what was going on with his body.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Arrow was absent for the club\u2019s opening match of the 2026 season, whispers started to emerge that he had suffered a suspected shoulder injury, which had set him back.<\/p>\n
However, doctors began a medical investigation into the forward\u2019s issues as they feared it was more than a normal shoulder injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey started the process and it\u2019s taken us this long to come to the final outcome. At the time (of testing), they didn\u2019t realise what was coming either,\u201d Bennett continued.<\/p>\n
Arrow interviewed on MND diagnosis | 02:20<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put our trust in the specialists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe physio and doctor didn\u2019t know what they were dealing with initially for Jai. They just had a guy losing a bit of strength and we were trying to work out why.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kept it pretty tight, even within the club. But the boys were staring to see the deterioration in him. A few came to me and said, \u2018Is Jai OK?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Arrow vowing to fight, he is set to join the Queensland Maroons camp in the lead-up to State of Origin series-opener on Wednesday, having previously represented them on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MAY 20: Jai Arrow, Rabbitohs CEO Blake Solly and Rabbitohs Coach Wayne Bennett attend a South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL press conference at USANA Rabbitohs Centre on May 20, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bennett confirmed that the Rabbitohs will always be there for him and will do whatever is needed for him and his family, including his one-year-old daughter Ayla Rae.<\/p>\n
\u201cJai won\u2019t fight this alone. He knows that. Jai has amazing spirit. He has always been a fighter,\u201d Bennett added.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t make it this far in the NRL because he was a natural or because he was fast or because he was some 110kg giant side-stepping people.<\/p>\n
\u201cJai Arrow just got there by sheer determination and hard work and he always put his body on the line for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Scary thing’: Maroons support Arrow | 03:18<\/p>\n
CHIEFS LOCK IN EELS GREAT AS ASSISTANT<\/p>\n
The PNG Chiefs have locked in Luke Burt as their first assistant coach ahead of their entry into the NRL in the 2028 season.<\/p>\n
The all-time leading tryscorer at the Parramatta Eels, Burt, toured the club\u2019s facilities in Port Moresby earlier this month before his appointment was announced on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
Spending 14 years in the NRL as one of the game\u2019s most reliable goal-kickers during his playing days, he arrives after holding coaching stints with the Eels and Gold Coast Titans, who named him their interim head coach in 2019.<\/p>\n
Following this, he joined the Burleigh Bears in 2020 and has been the side\u2019s head coach since 2023, where he led them to a Minor Premiership and Grand Final in his first year before winning the premiership last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had an exceptional career as a player, but what excites us the most is what he has done as a coach,\u201c the club\u2019s GM of Football Michael Chammas said. <\/p>\n
\u201dHe has shown he can develop players and build a winning culture through what he has done at the Burleigh Bears.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cLuke and his partner Madelin visited PNG recently and absolutely loved their time in the country. They are excited about the opportunity to build something special with the Chiefs alongside our head coach, Willie Peters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke Burt will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Chiefs.Source: AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett has detailed the heartbreaking toll Jai Arrow\u2019s MND diagnosis has taken on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-690791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690791","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=690791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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