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Jai Arrow (R) gave a heartfelt message to his supporters at a gala event in his honour.Source: Supplied Source Known<\/p>\n
JAI\u2019S SPEECH IN FULL<\/p>\n
My whole life, I\u2019ve never really wanted anything to be about me. It\u2019s always been about the people around me.<\/p>\n
So, standing here tonight in front of all of you is pretty overwhelming. Mind you, I\u2019m not even going to be saying any of this and I\u2019m getting someone to say it on behalf of me, I can barely speak English at the best of times as well.<\/p>\n
But genuinely, from the bottom of my heart \u2014 thank you.<\/p>\n
To see what has transpired since coming out with my diagnosis has been truly remarkable. The support that myself and my family have received is something I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be able to properly put into words.<\/p>\n
If you told me 12 months ago that I\u2019d be sitting in the sheds before my 99th game for the Rabbitohs, with Wayne (Bennett) and Clarky (Jason Clark) pulling my socks up for me, I probably would\u2019ve believed you.<\/p>\n
I always knew something was going to get me at some point in my lifetime. I just didn\u2019t think it would be at 30 years old.<\/p>\n
MND is a sh*t sandwich, and unfortunately they\u2019re the cards I\u2019ve been dealt.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s be real \u2014 there was always something wrong with me. This is probably just the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n
There are so many people I need to thank tonight, but there are a few in particular I want to mention.<\/p>\n
Dave (Riolo) \u2014 thank you for everything, mate.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve been my agent for a long time, and I know this probably hasn\u2019t been your ideal situation. But in fairness, I\u2019ve caused you nonstop grief throughout my entire career, so you should be pretty used to it by now.<\/p>\n
From the Origin scandal, to the hilarious interrogations we had because of it \u2014 which I can finally laugh about now that I\u2019m retired \u2014 and everything else in between, you\u2019ve always had my back.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve been there through the good, the bad and some seriously questionable decisions on my behalf.<\/p>\n
So, mate, thank you. I\u2019ll never forget it.<\/p>\n
Jai Arrow during the gala dinner, which was attended by about 700 people.Source: Supplied Source Known<\/p>\n
To Peter (V\u2019landys) and everyone at the NRL, thank you for the support you\u2019ve given me and my family.<\/p>\n
This game has given me so much more than I ever could have imagined, and I feel like I\u2019ll forever be in debt to rugby league.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s given me lifelong mates, memories I\u2019ll carry forever, opportunities I never dreamed of and some of the greatest moments of my life.<\/p>\n
I also want to thank every NRL club.<\/p>\n
One of the greatest things I\u2019ve seen through all of this is how quickly everyone has been able to put rivalries aside. Rugby league can be a pretty brutal game and we spend most of the year trying to bash each other, but when something bigger than footy happens, this game has a pretty incredible way of coming together.<\/p>\n
To every club, every player, coach, staff member and supporter who has reached out or shown their support \u2014 thank you. It means more than you probably realise.<\/p>\n
And I want to make a special mention of the Titans and the Roosters, as well as the NRL, for giving me the opportunity to play my 99th and 100th games for the Rabbitohs.<\/p>\n
Those two games will stay with me forever.<\/p>\n
It genuinely felt like one of those \u201cwhere were you?\u201d moments. One of those moments in rugby league that people remember exactly where they were and who they were with when it happened.<\/p>\n
To be front and centre of something like that was unreal, but if I\u2019m being honest, it was pretty daunting as well.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve spent my whole career just wanting to play footy and be one of the boys, so to suddenly have that much emotion, attention and support around me was something I wasn\u2019t really prepared for.<\/p>\n
But standing there and seeing the way the game came together \u2014 clubs, players, fans, everyone \u2014 is something I\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n
For everyone involved to put everything else aside and make that possible for me and my family is something I\u2019ll always be grateful for.<\/p>\n
‘A moment no one will ever forget’ | 01:20<\/p>\n
To everyone at the Rabbitohs, thank you.<\/p>\n
That club has become such a massive part of my life and my family\u2019s life, and the way you\u2019ve supported us through all of this has been unbelievable.<\/p>\n
From the people everyone sees on game day, to the people behind the scenes who probably never get the recognition they deserve, I\u2019ll always be grateful for how much care and support you\u2019ve shown me.<\/p>\n
Blake (Solly), thank you for everything you\u2019ve done for me and my family. The way you\u2019ve handled everything, and the lengths you\u2019ve gone to to support us, means more than I can probably ever properly explain.<\/p>\n
Wayne \u2014 I\u2019ve been lucky enough to have you as a coach, but through all of this you\u2019ve been much more than that.<\/p>\n
And I know for a fact I used to annoy the absolute sh*t out of you. There were probably plenty of days where you looked at me and thought, \u201cHow is this bloke still in my team?\u201d<\/p>\n
But no matter how much I carried on, asked dumb questions or probably tested your patience, I\u2019ve always had an enormous amount of love and respect for you.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve got this unbelievable ability to know when to say something, when not to say anything at all, and when just being there is enough.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve learned a lot from you as a footballer, but probably even more as a person.<\/p>\n
So thank you, Wayne. Even if I did make your job a lot harder than it needed to be.<\/p>\n
And Clarky \u2014 mate, thank you.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve done so much for me over the past year and particularly through this period. I don\u2019t think either of us imagined your job description would eventually include pulling my socks up before an NRL game, but here we are.<\/p>\n
Seriously though, the care you\u2019ve shown me has meant the world.<\/p>\n
The Rabbitohs gave me a home, gave me some of the best years of my career and gave me people that I\u2019ll have in my life long after footy.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s probably the best thing about a footy club \u2014 eventually the games finish, but the relationships don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
To all the boys I\u2019ve been lucky enough to call teammates over the years \u2014 thank you.<\/p>\n
One thing I\u2019ll definitely miss is walking through the doors every morning and immediately getting absolutely hammered with relentless banter.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m sure the boys would probably say I gave out just as much as I got.<\/p>\n
Then there were the Mad Mondays.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of stories from those that probably need to stay exactly where they are.<\/p>\n
Some of the funniest moments of my life have been with the boys, and unfortunately for everyone in this room, most of them can never be repeated publicly.<\/p>\n
But underneath all of that banter and carrying on is something pretty special.<\/p>\n
Emotional Arrow walks out with Souths | 02:44<\/p>\n
When you play footy together, you genuinely go to war with each other every week.<\/p>\n
You put your body on the line for the bloke standing beside you, and you know he\u2019s going to do exactly the same thing for you.<\/p>\n
People probably don\u2019t realise how much time you spend together as teammates. In a lot of ways, you spend more time with the boys than you do with your own family.<\/p>\n
You see each other at your best and you definitely see each other at your worst.<\/p>\n
And somewhere along the way, those teammates become family.<\/p>\n
Since my diagnosis, the way the boys have rallied around me has reminded me exactly why that bond is so special.<\/p>\n
But more than that, being around the team gave me a sense of normality through a pretty tough period.<\/p>\n
For those few hours at training, in the sheds or around the boys, I wasn\u2019t thinking about MND or what was happening next.<\/p>\n
I was just one of the boys again.<\/p>\n
I could walk in, get absolutely sprayed over something stupid, give it straight back and for a little while everything felt normal.<\/p>\n
That probably meant more to me than any of you realised.<\/p>\n
You can take the piss out of each other every single day, absolutely tear shreds off one another and never give anyone an inch \u2014 but when one of your mates genuinely needs you, everything else disappears.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what I\u2019ve felt from you boys.<\/p>\n
And just so we\u2019re clear \u2014 retirement doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re getting rid of me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m like a cockroach. I\u2019m not going anywhere.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll still be turning up to training, hanging around the sheds, annoying the sh*t out of everyone and offering plenty of advice that no one asked for.<\/p>\n
The only thing I\u2019ll really miss is playing.<\/p>\n
Actually running out there with your mates and going to war every week \u2014 there\u2019s nothing else quite like it.<\/p>\n
Training, though?<\/p>\n
F*** that. You can have it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve done enough wrestling, conditioning and getting flogged for one lifetime.<\/p>\n
Jai Arrow with Wayne Bennett for his 100th Rabbitohs game. Picture: NRL ImagerySource: The Courier Mail<\/p>\n
So to every bloke I\u2019ve shared a dressing room and a field with \u2014 I love you boys, and thank you for some of the best years and best memories of my life.<\/p>\n
And to my family and friends \u2014 thank you.<\/p>\n
There are too many of you to name individually, but every single one of you has played a part in getting me through what has been a pretty tough period.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve checked in, you\u2019ve shown up, you\u2019ve made me laugh when I probably needed it most, and more importantly, you\u2019ve treated me like Jai.<\/p>\n
Not Jai with MND.<\/p>\n
Just Jai.<\/p>\n
And that has meant more to me than you probably realise.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always been lucky with the people I\u2019ve had around me, and over the last 12 months I think I\u2019ve realised that more than ever.<\/p>\n
You find out pretty quickly in tough times who your people are, and I can genuinely say I\u2019ve got some of the best.<\/p>\n
To my family, thank you for always being there, for keeping me grounded and for putting up with me long before any of this happened.<\/p>\n
And to my mates, thank you for continuing to take the piss out of me, because the day you all start being nice to me is probably the day I\u2019ll actually start worrying.<\/p>\n
Seriously though, the calls, the messages, the visits and just being around \u2014 it all matters.<\/p>\n
Every single person who has been part of this journey has made something incredibly difficult feel that little bit easier.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll never be able to properly repay that.<\/p>\n
Jai Arrow with his wife Berina and daughter Ayla Rae. Picture: Justin LloydSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
And then there are the two most important people in my life.<\/p>\n
Berina.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t really know where to start.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve been beside me through everything, and I know this diagnosis hasn\u2019t just changed my life \u2014 it\u2019s changed yours too.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve had to carry things that I wish you never had to carry, and somehow you\u2019ve continued to be strong for me, for Ayla and for our family.<\/p>\n
There are probably a million things you\u2019ve done that nobody in this room will ever see.<\/p>\n
The conversations behind closed doors. The hard days. The things you\u2019ve had to organise. The things you\u2019ve had to worry about while still trying to make everything feel normal.<\/p>\n
I see all of it.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019ll never be able to thank you enough.<\/p>\n
You are my best mate, my biggest supporter and the person I want standing beside me through all of this.<\/p>\n
I love you more than I could ever properly say up here.<\/p>\n
And Ayla.<\/p>\n
You probably won\u2019t understand all of this for a long time, and maybe that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n
But I want you to know that you are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.<\/p>\n
Being your dad is bigger than anything I\u2019ve ever done on a football field.<\/p>\n
Bigger than Origin. Bigger than any game, any jersey or anything else footy has ever given me.<\/p>\n
You give me a reason to smile every single day, and you give me a reason to keep fighting every single day.<\/p>\n
And one day, when you\u2019re old enough to understand all of this, I hope you know how much your dad loves you.<\/p>\n
More than anything.<\/p>\n
And finally, I want to say something to every person living with MND, every family going through it, and everyone who has walked this road before us.<\/p>\n
I know I\u2019m not the only person fighting this.<\/p>\n
There are so many people dealing with this disease without the platform, the support or the opportunities that I\u2019ve been lucky enough to have.<\/p>\n
So from this point forward, this fight isn\u2019t just about me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll fight for Berina.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll fight for Ayla.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll fight for my family, my mates and everyone who has stood beside me.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019ll fight for every person and every family affected by MND.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know exactly what the road ahead looks like.<\/p>\n
None of us do.<\/p>\n
But what I do know is that I\u2019m not going to roll over.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to keep showing up.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to keep laughing.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to keep annoying everyone around me.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m going to keep fighting.<\/p>\n
Because if this last year has taught me anything, it\u2019s that I\u2019m not doing any of this alone.<\/p>\n
Every person in this room, everyone who has reached out, everyone who has donated, supported, sent a message, turned up to a game or simply been there \u2014 you\u2019ve made this journey easier for me and my family.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve given us strength when we\u2019ve needed it.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve reminded me how lucky I am.<\/p>\n
And you\u2019ve given me something worth fighting for.<\/p>\n
MND might be part of my story now, but it doesn\u2019t get to be the whole story.<\/p>\n
So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for standing beside me.<\/p>\n
The fight goes on.<\/p>\n
And I promise you \u2014 I\u2019m not going anywhere quietly.<\/p>\n
Whatever comes next, I know I\u2019ll keep fighting, and I know I\u2019ll never have to do it alone.<\/p>\n
Because after everything you\u2019ve all shown me, one thing I know for certain is this:<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll never walk alone.<\/p>\n
Now save the tears, save the sympathy \u2014 let\u2019s f***ing party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beautiful tributes from Jai Arrow to Wayne Bennett, Rabbitohs teammates, and most of all wife Berina and daughter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-902179","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\/902179","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=902179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}