South Sydney Rabbitohs fullback Matt Dufty says a move home to Australia to be closer to family has spearheaded his electric form for the club.
The speedster was recalled to don the fullback jersey for Wayne Bennett's side on Sunday, when the Rabbitohs and the NRL held The World's Biggest Birthday Party for Jai Arrow, who retired in May following a diagnosis of motor neurone disease.
Dufty has made the most of his chances when featuring in the NRL this season, averaging a whopping 211 metres per game in his seven appearances for the year, with two of those coming off the bench on limited minutes.
The livewire fullback left the NRL in 2022 to take up a deal with the Warrington Wolves, carving up the competition in his time in the Northern Hemisphere and was a whisker away from snatching the Man of Steel award in 2024.
The thrilling fullback finished his time in England with 47 tries in 88 games with the Wolves.
When the former Dragon was given an NRL lifeline this year, he was offered a NSW Cup contract with the Rabbitohs, prompting a return flight home from England with his partner after a mutual release from the English club.
Dufty is relishing being back on Australian soil, and having the company of his family surrounding him is bringing out some of the best form we've ever seen in his 10-season career, after it seemed unlikely he would make a return to the top grade.
"I'm loving being back home," Dufty said to Zero Tackle.
"When you get over there (England), you only (get to) come back for six to eight weeks, you forget how good it is living here, being around family, being around friends.
"I've been over in England, it's great, and I loved my time there, but you do get a bit lonely.
“It's just you and your partner, which is great. It helped us grow as a couple, but sometimes you need to see your dad and your brothers and your mum, and sometimes she needs her parents as well.
"But we loved our time there, but we're (also) happy to be home."
Dufty was a standout name in Arrow's birthday clash against the Newcastle Knights, running 215 metres with ball-in-hand, recording three try assists, one line break and four line break assists.
It was a Herculean performance for a player who was given a small shot at redemption in 2026 and took it with both hands.
Despite a late scare from a Kalyn Ponga-led Knights outfit, the Rabbitohs held onto a 26-24 victory after leading the match at one point 26-6.
The 30-year-old credited his powerful form to a week of focused preparation, which set him up to perform at his best on the field for the Rabbitohs.
"Yeah, I was a little bit nervous," Dufty said on the Knights' comeback following full-time on Sunday.
"But as I was saying before, the older you get, footy tends to get a bit easier.
"A good week's preparation tends to lead to a good performance. So I'm just trying to train well and prepare well, and it worked out in the end."
Following full-time, incredible scenes swept through Accor Stadium when fans flooded onto the field to contribute to the celebrations of Arrow's 31st birthday.
On a monumental occasion for the Rabbitohs, Dufty wanted to do Arrow and the club proud with an outstanding performance in front of 30,000 fans who braved the windy conditions on Sunday afternoon.
Dufty also admitted that despite trying to take each game at face value, he felt there was greater significance to this occasion than just 80 minutes of rugby league.
"I try to take it game as usual, but we had 'Jaiza's' initials and his playing number for Souths on that jersey," he added.
"The club's right behind him and the type of player and type of person he is, and the way he's handling everything at the moment, we knew we had to put in a performance in.
"It wasn't just for him, but for the club in general; it's for what he stands for and what the club stands for."
It caught plenty by surprise when Bennett opted to go with Dufty in the fullback jersey over star teammate Jye Gray, who is also showcasing electric form in 2026.
Given Cody Walker was suspended for a kicking infringement, Bennett believed Dufty offered more to the side while their star five-eighth is on the sidelines, giving him the nod over Gray, who remained on the interchange bench.
"We knew what we were doing. We made a deliberate decision to do that," Bennett said in his post-match press conference on Sunday.
"Cody isn't playing today. Cody adds a lot to our team, and he does things that other players can't do.
"Dufty can complement that, and we needed him today to do those couple of things.
“Jye has different skills; we just used Dufty's skillset today. There's nothing [negative] about Jye; we love him in the team, and he showed today that he's prepared to play wherever we play him.”
Although Gray was thrust into the action much quicker than he would have anticipated, with young gun winger Dayne Jennings going down with a nasty laceration in the 16th minute, pushing Gray to mark towering winger Dominic Young for most of the match.
"He got dealt a pretty bad hand today. The last thing he thought he'd be playing when he was coming to this ground was on the wing for South Sydney,” said Bennett of Gray.
"To his credit, he handled it great. I thought he would, and I knew he would, but it was the last thing we expected – a winger to be hurt so early in the game. He did a great job for us."
The fourth-placed Cronulla Sharks host fifth-placed Newcastle Knights on Friday, which opens the door for the Rabbitohs to shoot into the top four if they are successful on their trip down to the nation's capital to face the Canberra Raiders on Saturday.
