{"id":724858,"date":"2026-06-09T09:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724858\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:30:19","slug":"nrl-2026-jai-arrow-named-as-rabbitohs-pay-tribute-to-retired-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724858\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Jai Arrow named as Rabbitohs pay tribute to retired star"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Sydney have honoured Jai Arrow by naming him on their extended bench for Thursday\u2019s clash against his former side the Broncos in an incredibly touching move to start round 15.<\/p>\n

The former rep star was forced to medically retire earlier in the year following his devastating motor neurone diagnosis, with the rugby league world rallying around him as he embarks on the biggest fight of his life.<\/p>\n

Arrow spent the first two years of his career at Brisbane and then moved to the Rabbitohs in 2021 following a stint at the Titans.<\/p>\n

Souths have named him in jersey No.23 for Thursday\u2019s clash, while the Broncos will honour him with his name and club number on their jerseys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rabbitohs will be celebrating Arrow\u2019s career at Thursday night\u2019s clash with the Broncos and encourage all members and supporters to attend the game and celebrate his career alongside Jai,\u201d the Rabbitohs wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cArrow will ring the Rabbitohs Legacy Bell as his teammates and the opposition form a guard of honour before entering the field of play in an emotional game day moment in the lead up to kick off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Souths will be without their Origin stars as well as strike centre Campbell Graham who is out with a calf injury which sees Tallis Duncan move to the backs where he\u2019ll partner Latrell Siegwalt.<\/p>\n

The Broncos have left Ezra Mam on the bench after he missed a golden chance to win it for his side in the final minute against the Titans and then lost his spot in the Maroons squad for Origin II.<\/p>\n

Hayze Perham replaces Reece Walsh at fullback, while Jordan Riki returns from injury in the back row.<\/p>\n

The Sharks remain without star halfback Nicho Hynes (calf) for their trip across the ditch where Luke Metcalf is stuck on an extended bench.<\/p>\n

Trai Fuller comes in for Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow at fullback for the Dolphins, with Isaiya Katoa set to be released from Blues camp to take on the Roosters.<\/p>\n

Cody Ramsey replaces James Tedesco at fullback for the Roosters, with Hugo Savala shifting to his preferred role in the halves where he\u2019ll partner Daly Cherry-Evans.<\/p>\n

Tommy Talau will also play his first game for the club on the wing with Mark Nawaqanitawase in NSW camp, while Taylan May is back from a shoulder injury in a huge boost for the Wests Tigers who will he desperate to bounce back at Leichhardt Oval.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Round 15 team lists: Souths name Jai Arrow in touching act as Ezra Mam remains on the Broncos bench<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Sydney have honoured Jai Arrow by naming him on their extended bench for Thursday\u2019s clash against his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,5366,5084,21683,12979,216562,761,762,74672,158,1654,85,6405,28056],"class_list":["post-724858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-broncos","tag-campbell-graham","tag-ezra-mam","tag-injuries","tag-isaiya-katoa","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nicho-hynes","tag-nrl","tag-rabbitohs","tag-sports","tag-state-of-origin","tag-team-lists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724858","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=724858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}