{"id":729584,"date":"2026-06-11T12:07:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/729584\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:07:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:07:30","slug":"nrl-2026-jai-arrow-rings-the-bell-in-touching-pre-game-scenes-tribute-jersey-guard-of-honour-mnd-diagnosis-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/729584\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Jai Arrow rings the bell in touching pre-game scenes, tribute jersey, guard of honour, MND diagnosis, video"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rabbitohs and Broncos came together to celebrate Jai Arrow as the former South Sydney and Brisbane forward rang the legacy bell in touching scenes on Thursday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Arrow, who was forced to retire from the NRL after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), was honoured as players from both teams formed a guard of honour. <\/p>\n

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The Broncos and Rabbitohs were also wearing special tribute jerseys, with all proceeds going directly to supporting Arrow and his family.<\/p>\n

South Sydney wore white-out jerseys with Arrow\u2019s last name on the back, with fans able to pre-order the jerseys on their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brisbane, meanwhile, will auction off all player-worn jerseys, which feature \u2018Jai 222\u2019 above the club logo. Fans can bid on those jerseys here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While so much focus entering Thursday\u2019s game was on Brisbane\u2019s poor form, in that brief moment before kick-off the concept of competition points or wins and losses were put to a side. <\/p>\n

Instead, it was all about Arrow as the former Queensland Maroons representative walked out alongside partner Berina and daughter Ayla to ring South Sydney\u2019s legacy bell.<\/p>\n

They were touching scenes. Picture Thomas LissonSource: News Corp AustraliaArrow with Reynolds and Walker. Picture Thomas LissonSource: News Corp AustraliaJai Arrow rings the Legacy Bell. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Arrow was mobbed by former Rabbitohs teammates and embraced Broncos players before posing for a photo with good friends Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker, who formed of the longest-serving halves combinations in the NRL at Souths until the end of 2021 season.<\/p>\n

While Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett is not usually one to share many words with the media, he made an exception on Thursday night when speaking to Fox League pre-game about how much Arrow means to the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in this game since I was a little boy and they never fail to amaze me, the fans, how they always get behind someone that\u2019s having a tough time as Jai\u2019s going to have, and he\u2019s having,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always proud of this game that I\u2019ve been involved in all me life, and these people make me proud of how they can find time and give so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outpouring has been wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbitohs hooker Brandon Smith, meanwhile, said Thursday\u2019s game was a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d for the South Sydney and Brisbane players to show just how much Arrow means to both clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for us to really represent his outstanding career at Souths, Broncos and Gold Coast, and everywhere he played,\u201d Smith told Fox League.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a tenacious man he is, and just having him around the club \u2026 and being able to play in this special game is important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jai Arrow embraces his Fiance Berina Colakovic and daughter Ayla Rae. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe\/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesJai Arrow walks on to the field with his daughter Ayla Rae. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe\/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesJai Arrow stands on the field of play next to the Legacy Bell with his Fiance Berina Colakovic and daughter Ayla Rae. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rabbitohs and Broncos came together to celebrate Jai Arrow as the former South Sydney and Brisbane forward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-729584","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\/729584","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=729584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}