Jayden Brailey admits his brother, Blayke, has to leave the club if he wants to start
As Blayke Brailey battles his brother for a starting spot, the highly regarded Sharks prospect is attracting attention from rival NRL clubs such as Canterbury and Wests Tigers.
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Brotherly love is just as much about sacrifice as mateship, just ask Andrew Fifita.
The Cronulla forward told his twin David, who was vying for the same position while at the Sharks, to leave the club and pursue his career in England.
Fifita has similar advice for hooker Blayke Brailey, the younger brother of the Sharks’ first-choice No. 9 Jayden.
Like the Fifitas, the Brailey brothers are competing for the same spot at the same club.
“I’d tell my brother to go … that’s what I did with my brother,” Fifita said.
Blayke made his NRL debut in round one and is off-contract at the end of the season.
The highly regarded prospect is attracting attention from clubs such as Canterbury and Wests Tigers.
Older brother Jayden said Blayke was all but certain to leave the Sharks.
“There has been a lot of interest,’’ he said.
“We both want to be starting hookers and there’s one hooking role available in each team so, somewhere down the track, one of us is going to have to leave, which is unfortunate.
“But that’s the reality and I’m not going to lie and say we are both going to stay at the Sharks because it’s just not going to happen. If we are playing really good football, one of us has to leave.”
If Blayke decides to stay, Jayden is hoping the fact he arrived at the club before his sibling will give him the upper hand in any future contract decisions.
“I was there first so hopefully I’m the one sticking around,” he said.
But Jayden is well aware that just because he’s claiming the Sharks as his own, it doesn’t mean Blayke will let him have his way. Blayke has a long history of breaking “shotgun” protocol in the Brailey household.
“I shotgunned these cookies that mum always used to buy,’’ he said.
“I love cookies; they’re like my guilty pleasure. I said to him ‘this is my cookie, Blayke, don’t touch it’. I come back 10 minutes later and it’s gone, he’s eaten it. I went in there and I’ve given it to him a bit, we had a bit of a brothers’ tiff over it.”
If Jayden is allowed to have the Sharks to himself, it won’t be too long before he finds himself in another duel for the hooking role.
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His youngest brother Taj, 15, is also a hooker, a Sharks junior and has aspirations to play in the NRL.
If the assessment by their father Glenn is anything to go by, the odds will be stacked against Jayden the next time one of his brothers steps into his territory.
“I’m the favourite son, the first born always is … but my dad has this saying about us three boys,’’ Brailey said.
“He says it’s ‘good, better, best … so my youngest brother is best of the bunch according to my dad.”
Originally published as Jayden Brailey admits his brother, Blayke, has to leave the club if he wants to start
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