Australian rugby league cares a great deal about round numbers. Jai Arrow's count had stopped two matches short, and the league found a way to complete it.
Stuck on 98
When Jai Arrow brought his career to an end in May, he had played 98 matches for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Twenty-three in 2021, twenty-six in 2022, fourteen in 2023, eleven in 2024, twenty-four in 2025. Two short of the mark to which Australian clubs attach special value.
The NRL granted a medical exemption to get him there. With the agreement of the two opponents concerned, the league allowed the Australian forward to be named on two more team sheets and to leave the field a few seconds after kick-off, with the replacement not counted.
The first came on 29 August against the Gold Coast Titans, his former club, beaten 42-22. The second on Friday 4 September, against the Sydney Roosters.
Three hundred and sixty-four days later, against the same opponents
The fixture list played its part. The last match Jai Arrow had played before his career ended was on 5 September 2025, in Sydney, against the Roosters. Souths lost 36-6 that day.
His hundredth appearance fell on 4 September 2026, at the Sydney Football Stadium, against the Roosters once again. Three hundred and sixty-four days separate the two games. This time, the Rabbitohs won 50-20.
“My symptoms have affected various aspects of my daily life”
The diagnosis came in the spring. “After extensive medical testing and consultations regarding my ongoing symptoms, I have received a diagnosis relating to a nerve and neurological condition,” the player explained in the statement announcing his retirement, quoted by Le Figaro. “Over recent months, my symptoms have affected various aspects of my daily life.”
He added: “On medical advice, I am currently not fit to train or play at the required level, and I will be stepping away from those duties to focus fully on my health, my treatment and my rehabilitation.”
A hundred with Souths, a hundred and eighty in the NRL
Over his whole career, Jai Arrow has played 180 NRL matches: twenty-four for the Brisbane Broncos, fifty-six for the Gold Coast Titans and a hundred for South Sydney since 2021. On top of that come twelve State of Origin appearances for the Queensland Maroons, between 2017 and 2023, and one World Club Series match.
His team sheets show where he really played. Out of a hundred and ninety-three of them, he wore 13 sixty times and 12 fifty-two times, in other words lock and second row. The rest is split between replacement numbers and the prop positions, the mark of a player his coaches moved around the whole pack.
A guard of honour and two songs
On 4 September, the Sydney Football Stadium crowd gave him an ovation as soon as he ran out. Team-mates and opponents formed a guard of honour while the stadium played “Stand by Me” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Arrow left the field close to tears.
It will be his last appearance on an NRL field.
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