{"id":703156,"date":"2026-05-29T23:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/703156\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T23:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:20:24","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-blues-blow-as-hooker-blayke-brailey-suffers-suspected-broken-arm-in-sharks-clash-against-manly-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/703156\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026: Blues blow as hooker Blayke Brailey suffers suspected broken arm in Sharks clash against Manly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChrisSave<\/p>\n

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Cronulla and NSW star Blayke Brailey pushed a broken bone in his arm back into place and wanted to return to the field, his teammates have revealed as the hooker heads for scans that may confirm an end to his first State of Origin series.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Sharks co-captain sustained the injury just 48 hours after making his NSW in the Blues\u2019 extraordinary come-from-behind triumph over Queensland in game one at Accor Stadium.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a stunning demonstration of toughness and courage, Brailey manipulated a broken bone in one of his arms back into position himself during Cronulla\u2019s 28-22 win over Manly on Friday night<\/a>, according to his fellow co-captain Cameron McInnes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the physios said as he walked off, he put the break back in place himself without flinching at all,\u201d said McInnes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a painful injury, so he\u2019s a tough man and we\u2019re lucky to have him. But I\u2019m shattered for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

McInnes, who was playing his 100th match for the Sharks, described Brailey as \u201cthe toughest player I\u2019ve played with, for his size but just for everything\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"BlaykeBlayke Brailey in action against Manly before being injuring his arm.<\/p>\n

Brailey will have his arm assessed on Saturday but the Cronulla lock\u2019s comments appeared to confirm a break.<\/p>\n

The injury occurred while he was making a tackle on Manly winger Jason Saab.<\/p>\n

Despite the extent of it, he had wanted to resume playing at Ocean Protect Stadium after coming off at the hour mark, his club and NSW teammate Addin Fonua-Blake said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t describe how tough he is,\u201d said the front-rower, who made his State of Origin debut alongside Brailey on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"InjuredInjured Shark Blayke Brailey chats with teammates at full-time on Friday night. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted to go back on and he wanted to continue. I think the coach was saving him from himself, going back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brailey has been an ever-present feature of the Cronulla side for the past six seasons, missing only one game in that period in Magic Round this month after sustaining a head knock.<\/p>\n

Losing him will be major setback for the Sharks and a blow for Laurie Daley\u2019s NSW team as they seek to wrap up the series in Melbourne<\/a> next month.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Blayke<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe way he carries himself, he\u2019s such an ultimate professional and to hurt himself like, I\u2019m shattered for him,\u201d Fonua-Blake said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I know he will do everything to get himself back right and help us at the back end [of the season].\u201d<\/p>\n

Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon said Brailey was dejected but had been eager to back up for his club after the State of Origin thriller.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive minutes after Wednesday night he texted me to say \u2018I\u2019m sweet, I want to play\u2019. That\u2019s the sort of guy he is. He loves the club and he wanted to play for this bloke,\u201d said Fitzgibbon, referring to McInnes and his milestone match for Cronulla.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"James<\/a><\/p>\n

Brailey was dynamic off the bench for the Blues, who stormed back from 20 points behind<\/a> against a 12-man Queensland.<\/p>\n

Without him, Daley will have to turn to look elsewhere for the remaining two games of the interstate series.<\/p>\n

Wests Tigers co-captain Api Koroisau, who returns from suspension against Canterbury at CommBank Stadium on Saturday, is one option to make an impact as a back-up hooker off the bench.<\/p>\n

He made the last of his four appearances for the Blues in 2023.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"ChrisChris Barrett<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-703156","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\/703156","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=703156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}