NRL 2024: Where South Sydney debutant Jye Gray ranks among shortest NRL players ever

Jye Gray has heard every short joke in the book, but Jason Demetriou has seen the 168cm young gun play and believes he can be the X-factor at Souths.

NSWC 2024 RD04 South Sydney Rabbitohs NSW Cup v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs NSW Cup – Jye Gray NRL PHOTOS

Jye Gray has heard every cheeky gag about his height.

Even the one that his Rabbitohs teammates recently came up with.

When, prior to flying to the US last January, they suggested the club save a few bucks by purchasing a child’s plane ticket for Gray.

Or this one last Tuesday from Rabbitohs teammate Jack Wighton: “We still mock him about just finishing kindy, and now he’s debuting.’’

Now it’s Gray who is having the last laugh.

The South Sydney fullback will enter the record books against Cronulla on Saturday night when he becomes one of the smallest fullbacks to make his first grade debut in NRL history.

Gray, standing at 168cm, according to Fox Sports Stats, is shorter than fellow diminutive fullbacks, including Matt Bowen (172cm) Matt Seers, (175cm) Ben Barba (177cm) and Reece Walsh (177cm).

To put the 20-year-old size status into perspective, Gray is shorter than Group One winning jockey Hugh Bowman (170cm).

Jye Gray will make his NRL debut against Cronulla on Saturday night. Picture: NRL Photos

Only one centimetre shorter than Gray, former Sharks, Panthers and Titans fullback Preston Campbell (167cm), is all the proof the Bunnies dynamo needs for inspiration.

“He plays with his heart on his sleeve. He uses his speed well, and hopefully we see it Saturday,’’ Wighton said.

Gray has been sold as some type of hail Mary play by besieged Souths coach Jason Demetriou.

The reality is, Demetriou was always going to debut the rising star, it was just a matter of when.

The embattled coach views Gray, hooker Peter Mamouzelos, Davvy Moale, Tallis Duncan and Isaiah Tass as the future of the club.

Such is the hope for Gray, he has the chance on Saturday night to perform, and ultimately push Latrell Mitchell from fullback to the centres.

Before joining South Sydney in 2023, Gray attended The Southport School on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

He won every honour on offer.

The attacking weapon played three years in the first XV and led the school to a GPS title.

He played in the Queensland schoolboys rugby league team alongside Karl Oloapu and Keano Kini and won a national championship.

At the end of that tournament in 2022, where he played in the halves, he was snubbed for the Australian Schoolboys side and returned to TSS devastated.

Preston Campbell clocks in at 1cm shorter than Jye Gray.

“It was absolutely diabolical,” Southport High rugby director Adrian Blundell said.

“He came in with us [to prepare] for our upcoming season and he was broken.

“He was so upset he couldn’t understand it. But he was our captain and he was able to shake it off and bring the team up to a level when we won the premiership.”

Aside from winning, the other constant was claims that he was too small to cut it.

“The report we got every week was that he was too small, he was too small,” Blundell said.

“That is what a lot of the NRL clubs were saying as well.

“They don’t see how hard he works. Even now, when he breaks from Souths, he will come up and train at the school and do extra fitness runs.

Jye Gray has been a standout for the Rabbitohs in the NSW Cup. Picture: NRL Photos

“Over Christmas he came and was using the school fields for fitness drills.

“One thing that I loved – and why I was never worried – was that even as a 14-year-old, it didn’t matter whether we were playing a warm up game of tunnel ball, whether you are in a PE lesson and you are playing touch, or you’re playing a GPS premiership game, he is an outstanding competitor.

“He will not lose. He will do anything to win. He is an out-and-out competitor.

“That’s why when everyone was saying, ‘I think he is too small’, I was saying, ‘He will do what it takes to win’.”

Gray’s long-time agent, former Queensland star Clinton Schifcofske, wasn’t inundated with offers for Gray and while the national schoolboy selectors weren’t convinced, Souths liked what they saw.

Jye Gray (right) alongside current Rabbitohs teammate Tyrone Munro (187cm) in 2022. Picture: John Gass

They swooped on Gray after now-assistant coach Joe O’Callaghan watched him play at the Schoolboys title. At the time, Gray was part of the Broncos elite development squad and wanted to keep him, but they didn’t stand in his way when Souths came calling.

“He was never going to be that kid who had 10 clubs chasing him,” Schifcofske said.

“There had to be that one club that gave him a shot and believed in him. Souths was that club.”

Demetriou was pivotal to Souths gaining his signature, pointing out he had worked with the likes of Jayden Nikorima in the past.

“He has got every short joke that has ever been invented,” Blundell said.

“He has heard it all before. He is up there with the most influential rugby players I have seen. We were down by a couple of tries against a team we should have been beating, he got them in a huddle and said, ‘Calm down boys, everyone breathe, just pass me the ball’.

Can Jye Gray spark a revival for South Sydney’s season? Picture: NRL Photos

“And he scored from the kick-off.

“He is a terrific young leader. He was voted in as a warden of the school, which is a keeper of traditions and culture of the school.

“He was our captain in 2022 when we won the premiership. I am pretty sure he won every rugby trophy and rugby league trophy there is.”

Wighton said that in Souths’ time in need, Gray’s arrival to the bright lights is never more timely.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for him, he’s been playing well, and he has an X factor in his game,’’ Wighton said.

“Some of these young boys will bring energy for us old boys in the team.’’

Originally published as NRL 2024: Where South Sydney debutant Jye Gray ranks among shortest NRL players ever