{"id":796007,"date":"2026-07-12T18:52:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T18:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796007\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T18:52:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T18:52:04","slug":"nrl-2026-jai-arrow-mnd-fundraising-passes-1-million-as-south-sydney-rabbitohs-defeat-newcastle-knights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796007\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Jai Arrow MND fundraising passes $1 million as South Sydney Rabbitohs defeat Newcastle Knights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dan<\/p>\n

Updated July 12, 2026 \u2014 6:08pm,first published 4:33pm<\/p>\n

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They came in cardinal and myrtle party hats. They ate no less than 120 kilos of cake in honour of Jai Arrow\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

And they saw South Sydney withstand a desperate Newcastle fightback for a precious 26-24 triumph that may yet prove pivotal in their pursuit of finals.<\/p>\n

Rabbitohs fans stormed Accor Stadium on Sunday afternoon in celebration of Arrow\u2019s 31st birthday, a pitch invasion that meant the man of the moment had to be escorted from the field, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took in the remarkable scenes alongside ARL chairman Peter V\u2019landys, Play School luminary Big Ted and The Wiggles.<\/p>\n

Already, more than $1 million has been raised for Arrow, his family and motor neurone disease research. So those invading punters, they heard too of Arrow\u2019s plans to conquer, on a day when even an enthralling, last-minute finish came second to the inspirational forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to build awareness on MND, to essentially find a cure for everyone moving forward,\u201d Arrow told ABC Radio in a pre-game interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m here to do. I\u2019m here to help other people fighting the disease, build awareness. I\u2019m here to beat the bastard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the next 80 minutes, Matt Dufty \u2013 three try-assists, four line-break assists and 215 running metres \u2013 emerged as the most dominant man on the field, while David Fifita was along for a rough and ready ride too.<\/p>\n

\"CampbellCampbell Graham celebrates a try on Sunday.NRL Photos<\/p>\n

A crowd of 30,113 took it all in, with Arrow, his wife Berina and daughter Ayla guests of honour. Ayla was especially fond of The Wiggles\u2019 half-time performance, and had a fellow fan in Souths coach Wayne Bennett.<\/p>\n

Kalyn Ponga and the fast-finishing Knights had them on the edge of their seats too when three tries in seven minutes set up a grand stand finish.<\/p>\n

Two tries to Ponga \u2013 the second courtesy of a magnificent lead-up featuring his own grubber and a fine Dylan Lucas flick pass \u2013 had Newcastle looming large after Souths had led 26-6.<\/p>\n

\" Jai Arrow celebrates cutting his birthday cake.Getty Images<\/p>\n

When Sandon Smith busted through and Harrison Graham loomed in support, it was 26-24 with four minutes to play.<\/p>\n

A Dufty fumble on the high ball gave Newcastle their chance. A fingertip from Tyson Frizell, and South Sydney\u2019s judicious captain\u2019s challenge, took it away.<\/p>\n

Jack Wighton took out Ponga with 90 seconds to play to give the Knights one last crack. And then, fittingly because it was Arrow\u2019s party, Ponga\u2019s last pass for Young sailed over the sideline.<\/p>\n

As soon as the full-time siren went, the masses joined Arrow and co. in the middle. Arrow offered a simple, sincere \u201cthank you\u201d as he accepted a framed composite jersey featuring the four sides he has played for \u2013 the Rabbitohs, Broncos, Titans and Queensland Origin \u2013 while fans clamoured for a piece of him.<\/p>\n

\"JaiJai Arrow is mobbed by Rabbitohs fans.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Asked what he planned to do in coming weeks and months, Arrow said: \u201cFight and continue until I have no more left in me. I refuse to give up.\u2028For anyone out there with MND, you\u2019re not alone and I am with you.\u201d <\/p>\n

Bennett, meanwhile, clamoured for a piece of The Wiggles in South Sydney\u2019s sheds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve listened to a lot of their songs through my children. I wanted to sing a couple to them, but they weren\u2019t really interested in that,\u201d Bennett quipped in his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s lovely, people have put themselves out [for Arrow], done special things for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Fifita celebrates a try against the Knights.Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Rabbitohs sang Arrow \u2018happy birthday\u2019 in their dressing room and toasted a stirring win without Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell that shored up their spot at the bottom of the top eight as well.<\/p>\n

Bennett played down concern for Aitken, who underwent an ECG (electrocardiogram), after he was left short of breath 14 minutes into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a bit of a virus yesterday and thought he could play today, and the doctors thought he could play \u2026 but he got out there and all of a sudden his heart was racing,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we got him off as soon as we realised we had a bit of a problem there. He\u2019s fine now, he\u2019s settled down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dufty\u2019s switch to fullback, relegating Jye Gray to the bench, came through Walker\u2019s suspension and the added ball-playing Dufty brings at the back.<\/p>\n

A deep cut to rookie winger Dayne Jennings\u2019 knee meant Gray was thrust onto the wing early though, and held his own despite giving away a 30-centimetre height advantage to opposite number Dom Young.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very brave today,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cIf you look through our injuries today and the things that happened out there on the field, and a couple of things before we even got on the field… I couldn\u2019t be more proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not least of course, for delivering on Arrow\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

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\"DanDan Walsh<\/a> is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 12, 2026 \u2014 6:08pm,first published 4:33pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-796007","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\/796007","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=796007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}