REJECTS EYEING GLORY

JAYDN Su’A was heartbroken. Dane Gagai calls it a blessing. Jai Arrow remembers the moment like it was yesterday.

These are the South Sydney Broncos – Brisbane’s rugby league rejects who are now on the cusp of NRL premiership glory. The Rabbitohs will field four former Broncos players

(including Benji Marshall) in Sunday’s grand final against Penrith at Suncorp Stadium, with coach Wayne Bennett watching over from above.

Bennett was the coach behind all six of Brisbane’s premierships and will be gunning for his eighth top grade title (he won 2010 with the Dragons), this time at the helm of South Sydney.

Su’A, 23, was one of Brisbane’s brightest back-row prospects and earned comparisons to dual-code star

Sonny Bill Williams before he was shown the door by the Broncos midway through 2019.

Now a Queensland Origin player, Su’A was told he had no future at Red Hill under former coach Anthony Seibold and sought a lifeline with Bennett at Redfern.

Like Su’A, Gagai found himself under Bennett, who was then coaching Newcastle in 2012. He has developed into a 19-game Origin star

for Queensland and will make his 226th NRL appearance on Sunday.

Arrow was struggling to find his place in a star-studded Broncos team.

He made 24 appearances for the Broncos in 2016-17 but only three of those were in the starting side as Josh McGuire wore the No.13 jersey.

With an opportunity on the Gold Coast, Arrow was released from his Broncos contract by Bennett, who guaranteed they would reunite.