ON A Thursday night with no Origin players and 12,784 fans in the stands, Australian rugby league experienced a culture-defining moment.
South Sydney forward Jai Arrow was invited to ring the club’s legacy bell before kick-off in the Accor Stadium match against Brisbane – a game dedicated to him following his Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis.
He was accompanied onto the ground by his partner Berina Colakovic and their small child Ayla Rae and the 30-year-old struggled to contain his emotions.
Souths wore a special white strip, each jersey emblazoned with his name and after ringing the bell he was embraced by former team-mates from both clubs, posing in front of the bell with Cody Walker and Adam Reynolds.
Souths, who listed him on their team-sheet for the night, blitzed the premiers throughout, Alex Johnston scoring four tries to extend his lead at the top of the Premiership all time list as the Bunnies won 48-6.
Reynolds failed to finish the match due to an apparently hamstring injury.
SOUTH SYDNEY 48 (Johnston 4 Kosi Fifita Humphreys Radel try Seigwalt 8 goals) bt BRISBANE 6 (Karapani try Reynolds goal) at Accor Stadium. Crowd: 12,784.
Teams:
SOUTHS: Jye Gray; Alex Johnston, Latrell Seigwalt, Tallis Duncan, Edward Kosi; Cody Walker (c), Ashton Ward; Tevita Tatola, Brandon Smith, Keaon Kaloamatangi, David Fifita, Euan Aitken, Lachlan Hubner. Res:Bronson Garlick, Jamie Humphreys, John Radel, Dayne Jennings, Liam Le Blanc.
BRISBANE: Hayze Perham; Josiah Karapani, Antonio Verhoeven, Grant Anderson, Jesse Arthurs; Thomas Duffy, Adam Reynolds (c); Preston Riki, Corey Paix, Xavier Willison, Brendan Piakura, Jordan Riki, Josh Rogers. Res: Jack Gosiewski, Ben Hunt, Ben Talty, Ezra Mam.
Referee: Grant Atkins.
12784
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