‘Nothing is going to take me out easy,’ vows Jai Arrow after MND diagnosis

Jai Arrow reached the heights of the rugby league world with determination and courage that compensated for what he lacked in physique and sheer natural ability.

He will need the qualities that got him there as he embarks on the fight of his life.

Seated alongside Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly and coach Wayne Bennett, the South Sydney forward choked back tears on Wednesday as the club announced he had motor neurone disease.

The devastating diagnosis has forced the 30-year-old into immediate retirement but with such an insidious and unfair disease, as Solly described it, that is the least of it.

Arrow, though, has vowed to confront it head on, just as he did in a decade-long career in which he played in a grand final, won a State of Origin series and as recently as last year was Souths’ player of the season.

“I wanted to do this to let people know I am OK and I am ready to fight. Nothing is going to take me out easy,” he said in an interview with Nine News which showed his speech has already been significantly affected.

“I want to do everything I can. Any trial, any medication that will maintain me for as long as possible. I want to inspire as well. I want to inspire other people who have been diagnosed.”

Arrow said his one-year-old daughter Ayla was his “greatest strength” and in statement read by Solly thanked teammates for treating him the same every day.

“To my family and closest mates, thank you for standing beside me through all of this. I know the road ahead won’t be easy, but anyone who knows me knows I’m competitive, stubborn, and ready to fight this with everything I’ve got,” his statement said.

“What I need right now isn’t sympathy or sadness. What I need is support, understanding, and privacy while my family and I navigate this difficult time.

“This is only part of my story, and when the time is right, I’ll share more. But for now, I ask everyone to respect my privacy while I continue working with my doctors and my family.”

Rugby league is no stranger to motor neurone disease. Former England international and eight-time Super League winner Rob Burrow battled it bravely for nearly five years before his death, at age 41, in 2024.

Mark Burgess, the father of Souths premiership winners Sam, Tom and George Burgess, also lost his life to MND in 2007.

In the AFL arena, legendary former Essendon captain and Melbourne coach Neale Daniher has lived with it since 2013.

‘What I need is support, understanding, and privacy while my family and I navigate this difficult time.’

Jai Arrow

They are all heartbreaking stories but with Arrow still in the prime of his NRL career and having become a father with partner Berina just over a year ago, the news is gut-wrenching.

Arrow had not featured for Souths this season after being troubled by a serious shoulder injury.

While sidelined he had undergone testing and experienced symptoms that he said had affected different part of his everyday life.

The diagnosis has rocked Souths, who have pledged to support him.

Bennett, who handed Arrow his debut at Brisbane and coached him for Queensland as well as at the Rabbitohs, was also emotional, saying he “couldn’t be more proud of him”.

“I’ve got goosebumps running through me now,” the veteran coach said. “It’s the last way you want someone to be retired, but it is what it is and he’s handling it great.

“He’s been able to maintain coming to training and whilst he hasn’t been doing the training loads the other players have been, he’s done a lot of training and he can keep coming and taking more trips with us away.

“We don’t need to cut him loose. We need him near us.”

Noted for his toughness, his unyielding defence and his work ethic, Arrow played 178 NRL games for the Broncos, Gold Coast and Souths between 2016 and 2025.

He was knocked out in the first half of the Rabbitohs’ 2021 grand final against Penrith.

Arrow also appeared 12 times for Queensland between 2018 and 2023.

Presented last September with the George Piggins Medal as Souths’ player of the year for 2025, he still had so much to offer as a footballer.

Arrow’s impact at the Rabbitohs, however, stretches beyond the contribution he made as a player.

He was also named the Bob McCarthy Club person of the Year award in 2025 as well as winning the Souths Cares Award and being a finalist for the NRL’s Ken Stephen Medal for his work in the community.

Souths teammates Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker watched on as Bennett paid tribute to the spirit Arrow brought to the club.

“I’ve been in football all my life, and he’s a footballer. He’s that type of bloke, he loves the fun, he loves the banter, he loves the mateship,” Bennett said.

“He drank a bit too often, a few times got too full, but that’s the DNA. Everybody loves him. He’s mates with everybody. No one ever gets the shits with him, maybe Cody occasionally. But they are the greatest of mates and that’s what he brings. He brings so much to the change room.”

A terminal and rapidly progressing neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells controlling the muscles that allow people to move, speak and breathe, the average survival time after MND diagnosis is 2.5 years, although about 5 to 10 per cent of people survive more than 10 years.

Arrow’s infectious personality, though, is such that there was a place for some humour during the announcement despite what lies ahead.

“If you look at his football ability, not what you call a natural. So to achieve what he’s achieved, he’s played Origin, he was captain of the club here … he was the sixth captain last year,” Bennett said to laughs.

“That’s how many captains [we had]. But he made it to that place – no one tried harder than he did last year.

“He’ll fight. That’s why he’s played all the games he’s played.”