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![\"Jacob](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/73100868_saifiti-bros_230910_gt_9_202391017413.jpg\"\/)
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\n Jacob and Daniel Saifiti played most of their careers together for the Knights.
\n \u00a9Grant Trouville\/NRL Photos
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No need to guess who Jacob Saifiti contacted after being recalled to the NSW Blues Origin team for Game One at Accor Stadium on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Saifiti\u2019s good news came just two weeks after his twin brother Daniel announced his medical retirement from rugby league at the age of 30 after 191 NRL matches across 10 seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the first person I rang,\u201d Jacob told NRL.com \u201cI was really feeling for him but he\u2019s not the kind of person to get jealous or envious. He was really happy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Jacob and Daniel Saifiti played most of their careers together for the Knights.
\n \u00a9Grant Trouville\/NRL Photos
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Daniel played seven Origins for the Blues across the 2019, 2020 and 2021 series but never played with Jacob, whose two appearances were in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n
No surprises who has a ticket waiting for them ahead of Game One next Wednesday (May 27) at Sydney\u2019s Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hasn\u2019t asked me yet, but he\u2019s the first person I\u2019d give my (family allocation) tickets to,” Jacob said.<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s reconstructed shoulder has not allowed him to play any games for the Dolphins this year and only eight in 2025.<\/p>\n
Jacob himself broke his shoulder in 2018 but has made it back to be one of Newcastle\u2019s most prolific forwards averaging 10 hit-ups and 115 metres a game in 2026.<\/p>\n
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Inside camp: Jacob Saifiti<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a fracture on the shoulder blade where Daniel\u2019s has been a couple of surgeries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last one especially didn\u2019t heal like it was supposed to. He tried to come back in the pre-season and test it with contact and such, but it still wasn\u2019t good.<\/p>\n
\u201cAter one session, he couldn\u2019t lift up his kids over the next two days.<\/p>\n
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I know it was such a hard decision for him, but in the end he told me it was easy because family is everything.<\/p>\n
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“The thought of not being able to pick up kids made it easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacob has never questioned Daniel\u2019s support throughout his career, including the nine years they had together at the Knights after debuting in 2016.<\/p>\n
And Jacob also didn\u2019t question his belief he would make it back into the Origin team.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always have hope, especially when it comes to being in the Blues. All I could do was play my best footy, let the rest take care of itself and thankfully it\u2019s worked this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still nervous. I\u2019d get worried if I wasn\u2019t nervous but it\u2019s exciting as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me there\u2019s one rule \u2013 go your hardest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The brothers played two Tests together for Fiji in 2015 and 2017. They made a pact to try and make this year\u2019s World Cup team.<\/p>\n
\u201cA goal of Daniel and mine was to play together for Fiji once before we retired,\u201d Jacob said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played together about eight years ago but a World Cup together would have been something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that Jacob is back among the NRL elite, he\u2019s setting his sights on an Australian jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the ultimate goal. I was born in Newcastle, raised on the Central Coast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that opportunity came up obviously I\u2019d take it with both hands. If that\u2019s not the case then so be it. So, if the body is still good I\u2019d like to be there to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No need to guess who Jacob Saifiti contacted after being recalled to the NSW Blues Origin team for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-441431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}