NRL live: Jai Arrow's 100th Rabbitohs game against Roosters

There won't be a spare seat in the house tonight as Jai Arrow leads out the Rabbitohs against the Roosters, one of the great rivalries in rugby league.

“Tonight’s match will be a watershed night for our club, the team, our Members and our fans, with us now able to announce a sell out before gates open for the match,” Rabbitohs CEO Blake Solly said.

“When we campaigned to return to Moore Park as a home venue, this is one of the reasons why.

"So many of our Members and fans indicated they wanted us to return to our heartland, especially for big games such as this one, against our neighbours with some very special milestones to celebrate.

“We don’t always see eye-to-eye with the Roosters, but we also know that celebrating Jai tonight will bring us all together.

"On behalf of the Rabbitohs we would like to thank the Roosters for their support of Jai since his diagnosis, and we thank them for supporting this concept of Jai reaching 100 NRL games for our Club.

“The scenes on the Gold Coast last Saturday will not be forgotten by anyone who attended the stadium or who watched on TV. Tonight we will see that atmosphere amplified even further with the ‘house full’ sign going up.

“We look forward … to a very special night both on and off the field.”

Trent Robinson has defended his decision to rest nine players ahead of the NRL finals, but would be in favour of a wildcard weekend to fixture a break for the top teams.

The fourth-placed Sydney Roosters are resting James Tedesco, Daly Cherry-Evans and seven others from tonight's clash.

Following Sam Walker's injury, Robinson admitted there was a temptation to give new halves combination Cherry-Evans and Hugo Savala a dry run in the last weekend before finals.

"There was some thought around that, but I also trust the way that they both play," he said.

"They've both trained a lot together."

The upheaval on the Roosters' team sheet comes after Penrith memorably rested 16 players for the penultimate round of last season, while finals-bound Cronulla and the Warriors are also resting fit players this weekend.

The situation has reignited suggestions of introducing a pre-finals wildcard round.

That would allow the teams that finish between first and sixth to rest the weekend before finals and therefore play full strength until the end of the regular season.

The teams placed seventh to 10th, meanwhile, would play off to secure one of two finals spots, so would have incentive to name their best teams.

The AFL welcomed 172,769 fans to the two games across their first wildcard weekend last month.

It is understood NRL club chief executive officers were broadly in favour of introducing the concept when quizzed at Wednesday's meeting.

Robinson is also keen on introducing a wildcard weekend, but only once the league expands closer to 20 teams as it aims by the end of the decade.

"I think it makes commercial sense, I think it makes football sense as far as the weekend off and making the finals series at its best as well for those teams," he said.

"I think it's with some foresight not to [use it as we] go to 18 [teams], but probably going towards 20, and I think it's not all four of those teams getting into that finals series, it's only two of them.

"So you're not rewarding four teams, you're rewarding two teams that have to fight their way in."

Rex Bassingthwaighte, Toby Rodwell and Reece Foley all join the Roosters' starting backline with four NRL games of experience between them, while uncapped Hayden Barton, Aston Warwick and Jake Elliott are on the six-man bench.

Robinson insisted he was still taking the clash, between the NRL's two fiercest rivals, seriously.

"History will show that I love this game and respect this game, and I don't think there's any different this weekend, because Daly Cherry-Evans isn't playing and Toby Rodwell is," he said.

"There's a future in what we're going to be playing out there as well."

- AAP

Here's tonight's team news.

Souths

Jai Arrow has been named at five-eighth with Cody Walker to come off the interchange after the kick-off.

Latrell Mitchell comes into the starting line up at centre after a successful return off the bench on the Gold Coast, with Tallis Duncan being rested. He felt some hamstring tightness after the Titans game but should be OK for next week.

Jye Gray starts at fullback, Matt Dufty is on the bench, which is where Latrell Seigwalt will sit as the extra interchange after Arrow has his run on.

Roosters

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes for the Roosters.

Nine of them actually.

James Tedesco, Billy Smith, Rob Toia, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Daly Cherry-Evans, Naufahu Whyte, Hugo Savala, Reece Robson and Siua Wong have all been rested, and then in another late change 90 minutes before kick off, Lindsay Collins has dropped out too for a perfect 10 starters not involved tonight.

Daniel Tupou does start though on his return from a shoulder injury.

"Over the weekend, even since the announcement of Jai's condition, we've seen that some things are bigger than football," Roosters utility Connor Watson told NRL.com ahead of tonight's match.

"He's obviously going to play his 100th game for the Rabbitohs on Friday so we'll be there to celebrate with him."

Naufahu Whyte agreed.

"There's a lot of things in the game of rugby league we can't change," the Roosters prop said.

"I send my full love and respect out to Jai and his family and what he's done for the game.

"It's a privilege to be in that moment with him as he represents his 100th game.

"I know all us Roosters brothers support him."

That might be true.

But the 118-year rivalry between Souths and Easts will still bubble under the surface and, once the ceremony of Jai Arrow's walk on is over, the rivalry will once more come to the fore.

"It's all a mindset," Whyte said.

"One moment you can be in a situation and another moment you can flick that switch in your head and go into battle.

"We'll celebrate that moment with Jai — he deserves it — and then we'll cross those white lines and get ready for the match."

Rabbitohs players say Jai Arrow has proven to be an inspiration for South Sydney as the club prepares to play finals for the first time in four seasons.

The 42-22 win over Gold Coast in Robina on Saturday took the Rabbitohs to sixth and into the finals for the first time since 2022.

Arrow, 31, led the side out as captain in an emotional start to the match where he notched his 99th NRL game for the Rabbitohs after the NRL gave permission for him to be subbed off straight away.

Cameron Murray, the regular skipper, ran on as Arrow came off to appreciative applause.

Murray scored two tries and set up two in an opening 27-minute burst to secure a 28-0 lead.

Five-eighth Cody Walker revealed the depth of the emotions that the players have dealt with this year after Arrow's diagnosis.

Only those inside the Rabbitohs' four walls can know what that has truly been like, but the performance against the Titans epitomised the Arrow mentality and ethos.

"It's sort of not a great thing to say but it is a sad thing we have gotten used to … everything that has gone on this year with Jai's diagnosis" Walker told AAP.

"I shouldn't say 'got used to' but we have sort of learned to live with it, if that makes sense, without treating him differently because he doesn't deserve that.

"For us it is about showing some of the strengths that Jai brought to a footy team and the club.

"I thought that through the real tough periods against the Titans we showed a little bit of that. We were on the ropes there and they were coming home with a wet sail and it was just a bit of hard work that got us out of trouble."

Walker, a deep thinker about life and the game itself, said the positives from the day were a two-way street.

"One thing for me on a personal level that I hope Jai got out of today was not just how much he means to our club, but for the wider community," Walker said.

"That includes the whole of Australia and I am sure he is getting support world-wide as well, which is outstanding

"It is a real credit to his demeanour, a real credit to his character and a real credit to the way he lives his life. I hope he just felt the love today."

- AAP

Hello everyone and welcome to tonight's special NRL blog.

My name is Simon Smale and I will be with you this evening for a historic event, as Jai Arrow runs on for the South Sydney Rabbitohs for the 100th time, and second since his whole world was upended by his diagnosis of MND earlier this year.

The NRL has made a special dispensation for him to be able to make these last two appearances to bring him up to 100, and full credit to them for that.

Tonight, for what is surely the first time in his career, Arrow will line up at five-eighth, but will be replaced by Cody Walker immediately following kick off.

It is sure to be an emotional night at a sold out Sydney Football Stadium in Moore Park.

I'm glad you're here with me to experience it.

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