South Sydney Rabbitohs forward Jai Arrow has spoken out after he was captured having an animated argument with a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs during a fiery Good Friday clash.
The Bulldogs ended a decade of misery in the traditional holiday clash on Friday, dominating the Rabbitohs in a 32-0 victory in front of 65,305 fans at Accor Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park – the highest regular season crowd in rugby league history.
It was an unhappy day out for South Sydney and its fans though, as the Rabbitohs were held scoreless for the first time since 2021 and slipped down the NRL ladder following the second consecutive defeat.
Arrow let his frustrations out during the match, as he became engaged in a verbal stoush with a Bulldogs fan as he made his way to the bench after coming off with 15 minutes remaining.
It is not known what was said by the fan to draw the attention of Arrow, but the 29-year-old had to be restrained by Souths legend and trainer John Sutton.
Sutton told The Sydney Morning Herald the fan was “carrying on” and “kept swearing at Jai”.
Arrow did not say how he responded to the fan but told News Corp there was “nothing in it” and that “passion got the better of me”.
A police officer had to intervene and have a chat with the Bulldogs fan, who was sitting just a few rows behind the Rabbitohs bench, but the supporter was allowed to remain in the stadium.
The fan defended himself to police, claiming he had just made a “love heart” symbol to Arrow.
English recruit Lewis Dodd spent most of the game on the bench and was also subject to heckling from the same section of the crowd, admitting he couldn’t repeat some of the things that were said to him on the record.
“That is part of the game – there wasn’t any malice in it. I would like to think if there was a Bulldogs player sitting in front of a Souths fan he would be doing the same thing,” he said.
“That’s part of the game and when I ran out for the warm up, I have never experienced anything like that.”
Arrow’s teammate Cody Walker and coach Wayne Bennett were asked about the incident in the post-match press conference but both knew little about the clash.
Commentator and former Bulldog James Graham suggested Arrow could have handled the situation better.
“Obviously he’s a passionate individual, his team has just been beaten 32-0,” he said on Triple M.
“I can understand how and why he’d react but at the end of the day you’ve just got to put your head down and cop your medicine because it’s their day in the sun.
“As long as it’s all fair game and it’s all fair, Jai should be the better person and cop that.”
The Bulldogs’ victory keeps them comfortably on top of the ladder by four points, having won each of their opening six matches of the 2025 season.
